Co-Designing a Farm Safety Gamified Educational Resource With Secondary School Students and Their Teachers: Qualitative Study Protocol

Abstract

Unintentional injuries are a leading cause of preventable harm among adolescents. Adolescents also experience an increased risk of farm injury, and in Australia, injury-related farm fatalities among adolescents have remained largely unchanged over the past two decades. A third of all incidents involve farm visitors, indicating the need for population-level safety information. This project uses qualitative data to inform a co-design process with adolescents, and their teachers, to develop a game-based farm injury prevention online educational resource. This protocol describes the multi-phase co-design project. Focus group discussions regarding farm injury prevention will be held with students (Year 7 & 8; ∼12–14 years of age) and teachers at high schools with an agricultural focus across two Australian states. Inductive thematic analysis of discussion transcripts, and analysis of farm injury data, will inform the development of the modules and content of the game. User experience testing of the prototype will form the final phase of the project. This process is supported by a Stakeholder Advisory Group, which includes representatives of youth farming organisations, agricultural educators, and national child safety organisations. This group will assist in interpretation and dissemination of findings and promoting the resultant educational resource in schools. Ethical approval has been granted by the University of New South Wales Human Research Ethics Committee. Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, mass media releases, academic conferences, and the agricultural education sector in Australia via the stakeholder advisory group. This study will provide useful insights into co-designing injury prevention resources for adolescents using gamification and result in a co-designed farm injury prevention educational resource for schools and the general community via mobile and web-based applications.