Description of Ragged Edge
Health Risk Appraisal
This video game for junior-high or high-school health education
classes was mentioned by the Wall Street Journal on June 21,
1989. It is a real-time non-prescriptive health education video
game which demonstrates (but does not preach) the effects of
health behavior choices on undesirable outcomes such as
mortality, disfigurement, or even the loss of a driver's
license.
Scores are based on actuarial risk models for 5-year outcomes. The
scoring system for the game is a reverse-psychology one: in
order to encourage repetitive play, high risk equals high
scores, yet the probability of surviving the game alive and
intact is based on the same actuarial/epidemiological data.
This is a non-traditional approach to health risk appraisal for
school health education.
I was involved with the architecture, design, and implementation of
this project and I was also the project manager for this research
sponsored by Lifespan Research Institute and University Park Pathology
Associates. This was sponsored by a Small Business Inovative Research
(SBIR) given out by the National Institure of Health (NIH).
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