School of Education

Meningococcal Infection, Awareness Prevention and Protection (MIApp) – Improving and evaluating adolescent access to meningococcal education through the use of an app

Background

Meningococcal disease (MD) is a serious, vaccine-preventable infectious disease, which resulted in 43 cases, and the death of six Western Australians in 2017. Western Australia (WA) has recently seen an increase in the number of MD cases, with 8 cases reported in 2022 so far . Some groups in the community are at increased risk of MD, including adolescents, who have the highest rates of naso-pharyngeal carriage.

The Amanda Young Foundation (AYF) is a not-for-profit community organisation dedicated to reducing deaths from MD. The foundation was formed in 1998 following the tragic death of Amanda Young from meningococcal septicaemia at the young age of 18 years.  A key focus of the AYF is to  increase young people’s education and awareness of MD and is the premise behind creating a free downloadable application.

The Research project

The MIApp project was concerned with the development and evaluation of an educational app about MD and was joint-funded with Lotterywest, The Western Australian Department of Health, the Amanda Young Foundation and Edith Cowan University (ECU) . MIApp was developed in collaboration by academics across ECU’s Schools of Medical and Health Sciences, Science and Education.

The primary aim of the study was to measure changes in knowledge and attitudes towards meningococcal carriage and disease, following the use of the newly created app, MIApp. The project also assessed the acceptability, usability, and the overall student experience of MIApp.

The research measured effectiveness of MIApp in improving students’ knowledge about MD, compared with students receiving in-class educational presentations about MD, which had been the primary mode of student education offered by the AYF. Participants either played the game or received a face-to-face presentation from the AYF (control group), during a single school lesson. Students answered a questionnaire to assess their level of knowledge of meningococcal prior to the session, and again after, to assess their improvement.

Throughout 2021, MIApp research trials were conducted among 700 students from Years 7 to 10, in six Western Australian high schools. Evaluation showed a significant improvement in key knowledge of MD was demonstrated by both groups. MIApp has proven to be an interactive and highly engaging educational app. It is now available to provide students in both regional and remote WA, and across Australia with important knowledge of meningococcal infection to help protect from this rare but life-threatening infectious disease.

About MIApp

MIApp is an innovative, educational game developed for students in Years 7 to 10, to raise awareness and bring to life the realities of meningococcal infection. Players engage with learning content to solve the source of an infection. Students are introduced to the content of communicable disease, MD, the concept of ‘healthy carriers’, signs and symptoms of infection and preventive health care strategies.

MIApp is free to download, available for Windows PC and for iPad from the App Store.

Teaching and Learning Resources for Educators

A Teaching and Learning Resource package and Extended User Guide have been developed to accompany MIApp, and support educators in the teaching and learning of meningococcal awareness and prevention in secondary schools. These resources are curriculum-aligned to address content in the Western Australian Health and Physical Education Curriculum and the Australian Curriculum – Health and Physical Education (Version 8.4), for secondary schooling years 7, 8, 9 and 10. The recommended best-use of these resources is to incorporate all three lessons with MIApp gameplay.

Educational Resources

The newly created app and associated Teaching and Learning Resource are now available for educators to download from the Amanda Young Foundation website.

For more information about MIApp, please contact:

Dr Julie Boston, School of Education or Professor Amanda Devine, School of Medical and Health Sciences.

Funding agencies

Lotterywest
The Amanda Young Foundation
Department of Health , Government of Western Australia
ECU Industry Collaboration Grant

The Research Team

Dr Lauren Bloomfield
Professor Amanda Devine
Associate Professor Martin Masek
Dr Julie Boston
Dr Donna Barwood
Dr Lesley Andrew
Ms Deanna Howell
Ms Palee Holdsworth

ECU Development Team

Luke Kelly
Luke Brook
Jess Watson

ECU Research Assistance

Brittany Hanson
Jennifer Hanna

Project duration

July 2019 - December 2023