Trial reportThe Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine2024
A Serious Video Game Targeting HIV Testing and Counseling: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of Digital Serious Games on Knowledge and Attitudes in Public Health Education: Systematic Review and Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- A Digital Behavioral Health Game for Adolescent Mental Health: A Prespecified Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Trial
- Efficacy of an Interactive Life Simulation Gaming App on Improving HIV Testing Uptake Among Adolescents and Young Adults at Risk for HIV: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR serious games · 2026Article
- Impact of a digital game-based intervention on dengue knowledge and prevention in students from an endemic region of Peru.IJID regions · 2026Article
- A videogame for perceived risk of harm from opioid misuse in adolescents: a randomized controlled trial.Nature health · 2026Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
purposeAdolescents are the age group that is least likely to know their HIV status and may unknowingly transmit the virus to others. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the impact of the original video game intervention, PlayTest!, on behavioral antecedents for HIV testing and counseling (HTC).
methodsParticipants (N = 287 adolescents) were recruited between 2018 and 2020 and were 48% female, aged 14-18 years (mean age = 15.4 years), and 76% racial minorities. Participants were randomized 1:1 and assigned to either play PlayTest! or a set of control games, ∼one session per week for an hour per session over 4-6 weeks (gameplay) after school. The primary outcome measure was participants' attitudes around HTC at 6 months, with intentions, knowledge, self-efficacy, and behaviors assessed as secondary outcomes.
resultsTwo hundred and ninety-six participants were enrolled/randomized; nine were withdrawn due to incomplete parental consent forms, leaving 287 participants: 145 were randomized to PlayTest! and 142 to the control condition. Mixed between-within subjects ANOVAs assessed the impact of the study conditions on outcomes. Improvements were seen in the PlayTest! group in HTC attitudes (p < .001), intentions (p < .001), knowledge (p < .001), and self-efficacy (p = .002) at all time-points. At 6 months, for those who had access to HTC (N = 134; prior to COVID-19) and for those who did not have access to HTC (N = 261; during COVID-19), there were no differences in self-reported HTC between the two groups (p = .289 and p = .074, respectively). DISCUSSION: PlayTest! impacted important behavioral antecedents related to HTC and has the potential to broadly increase HTC rates in adolescents.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.