Abstract

Background
Adolescence is a crucial phase in a person's life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of gamification in the education of teenage females on pubertal health.
Methods
This clinical trial, conducted on 90 adolescent girls in Babol, Iran, during the 2023-2024 year, used a multistage cluster sampling method to assign participants randomly to intervention and control groups. The intervention group received weekly puberty health education over 4 weeks through a gamification platform. Data collection involved a socio-demographic questionnaire as well as puberty awareness and practice assessments, completed by both groups before the intervention, immediately, and 1 month after study.
Findings
The average puberty awareness and practice scores of the students in the intervention group significantly increased significantly, immediately and 4-week after the intervention compared to the control group (P < .001). The standardized effect sizes for awareness and practice were 0.74 and 0.25, respectively. In the intervention group, puberty awareness siginificanlty increased by 5.28 (95% CI: 4.51-6.06) and 5.06 points (95% CI: 4.31-5.82) when comparing the two time periods before and immediately after, and before and 4 weeks after the intervention, respectively. Similarly, the puberty practice score significanly increased by 6.82 (95% CI: 4.24-9.40) and 8.73 points (95% CI: 5.94-11.51) in the same time comparisons (P < .001).
Conclusion
This study demonstrated the effectiveness of using gamification in puberty health education on increasing puberty awareness and practice among adolescent girls. This innovative educational approach can enhance puberty health education programs, leading to better health outcomes for adolescent girls.