Acceptance of Gamified Web-Based Education in Mental Illness Courses: A Survey of Medical Students’ Perceptions Over 5 Years

Gamified learning can make students more focused and can lead to learning at a deeper level. The aim of this study was to investigate the students’ perceptions of gamified web-based learning. In this study, we aimed to find out the students’ viewpoints about the dimensions of gamification acceptance and their correlation to each other. This survey study was conducted in 2022 on 350 students of Public Health, Medicine, and Laboratory Science who had taken three courses in mental health, health psychology, and mental health and addiction, and were taught through gamified learning between late 2017 and 2021. The Game Acceptance Questionnaire was used in this study. The questionnaire consisted of 21 questions divided into seven components: Perceived ease of use, Perceived usefulness, Perceived enjoyment, Perceived control, Concentration, Attitude towards using, and Behavioral intention. Each component had three questions. The Likert scale was used in this questionnaire, with a range of 5 to 1, where 5 means strongly agree and 1 means strongly disagree. The cut-off point was 3. Content validity and face validity were examined by experts and students. The reliability of the instrument, as measured by Cronbach’s alpha, was 0.872. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics V22.0.  The highest mean scores were related to attention to play (4.15±0.64), concentration during play (4.03±0.59), attitude towards playing as a good idea (4.025±0.65), ease of learning (3.99±0.70), and interesting gamification (3.96±0.74). Students’ perspectives did not differ significantly by the field of study. Differences in the acceptance of gamification components were significant by gender only in the field of enjoyment (P=0.02). The use of gamification is an emerging technology in many countries, including developing countries, and useful and practical information about it can facilitate its expansion and proper use.