Development of an interactive pharmacology themed card game to enhance health science students’ knowledge

Abstract

Background: Health science students often find pharmacology difficult because of the large number of scientific terms, drug names, drug classes, indications, and side effects they must understand. Therefore, interactive and engaging learning materials are needed to enhance health science students’ knowledge. This study developed a pharmacology-themed card game containing drug names, drug classifications based on indications, drug indications, drug side effects, and drug safety levels to facilitate basic pharmacology learning.

Method: This study is a research and development (R&D) project that employs the ADDIE development model with a quasi-experimental approach and a pre-test and post-test control group design. The study sample consisted of 98 students, divided into an intervention group and a control group of 49 students each, using cluster sampling. Data were collected from pre-test and post-test results, as well as a user satisfaction questionnaire.

Results: An interactive media card game was successfully developed using the ADDIE model. The results of the Wilcoxon test showed a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores in each group (p < 0.05). However, the Mann–Whitney test showed no significant difference in the increase in knowledge between the two groups (p > 0.05). The intervention group had a higher average increase in knowledge scores, and most students reported being very satisfied with the use of the media.

Conclusion: An interactive pharmacology-themed card game can be used as an engaging learning tool and has been shown to improve health students’ knowledge, although this improvement was not significantly different from that achieved through conventional learning methods.