P105
Tuberculosis Alert: a board game designed to promote tuberculosis awareness and fight stigma
P Soldevilla(1,2,3,4,5) M Cortacans(1,2,3,4) D Aznar(1,2) M Vidal(1,2,3,4) K L Fonseca(1,5) C Vilaplana(1,2,4,5)
1:Unitat de Tuberculosi Experimental, Microbiology Dept. Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute and Hospital (IGTP-HUGTIP), Badalona, 08916, Spain; 2:Genetics and Microbiology Department, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, 08193, Spain; 3:Centre de Medicina Comparativa i Bioimatge de Catalunya (CMCiB), Badalona, 08916, Spain; 4:Servei de Microbiologia, LCMN, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol (HUGTiP), Badalona, 08916, Spain; 5:Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Madrid, 28029, Spain
To debunk myths and stigma related to tuberculosis (TB) we have developed ‘Tuberculosis Alert’, a role-playing board game designed to improve public understanding of tuberculosis (TB). The game introduces both basic and specific concepts about the disease, including what TB is, how it is transmitted, its symptoms, the current treatment, and the concepts of drug resistance and latency.
Supported by the Department of Research and Universities of the Generalitat of Catalonia and a charitable campaign by Condis supermarkets, we have 8 copies of the game available in four languages (Catalan, Spanish, English, and French). Its innovation lies in being the first board game specifically dedicated to TB education, with flexible game dynamics that adapt to audience feedback. To measure the game's impact on knowledge, we visited schools where, apart from playing, the students also received a knowledge assessment tool before and after gameplay. According to test results, all students improved their knowledge about the disease by about 30%, with a sharper effect noted in the basic-knowledge questions.
Tuberculosis Alert has proved to be an effective tool for promoting tuberculosis awareness in a format that is not only entertaining but also impactful. Our future plans include continuing to establish collaborations with multiple high schools across Catalonia in various geographic and socio-economic contexts, as well as working with public health institutions to visit schools with a reported case of TB. In addition, we plan to scale up production to ensure availability for national and international institutions.