Evaluation of Kahala Game to teach Pre-Requisite Behaviors of Empathy

Abstract

This study evaluated the educational game Kahala in terms of usability, engagement, and teaching the class of behavior “responding to the needs of others according to the situation experienced” to children. The Kahala game is an analog game developed to teach the prerequisite behaviors of empathy: (a) identify the needs of others; (b) identify available resources that could be shared with others according to the situation experienced; (c) respond to the needs of others according to the situation experienced. The behaviors related to items a and b are prerequisites for the general class of behavior related to item c. The plot of the game takes place in a post-apocalyptic context, where the player’s character needs to help the other characters by providing the resources they need. Four children aged 8 to 9 years participated in the study. A multiple baseline design was used among participants. In the Pre-test phase (first two sessions), the QACEC questionnaire (Questionnaire to Assess Affective and Cognitive Empathy in Children), the Evaluative Situation, and (c) the “Rainbow Hunters” game were applied. In the Intervention phase (third to sixth sessions), the Kahala game was used. The Post-test phase (last two sessions) was equivalent to the Pre-test phase. To evaluate learning of the target behaviors of the game, the performance of the participants in the Pre- and Post-test and during the sessions was compared. Regarding the results obtained through the QACEC, most participants showed an increase in the scores of the questionnaires applied in the Post-test compared to the Pre-test. In the “Rainbow Hunters” game and in the Kahala game, the participants presented a high percentage of correct answers. A progressive decrease in the difficulty of the participants with the game was observed throughout the intervention, suggesting good usability of Kahala. The high frequency of positive comments, predominant in most sessions for all participants, indicates positive engagement with the game. Finally, the results of this research, in addition to demonstrating the possibility of applying the Kahala Game to its target audience, indicate that it can be used to teach prerequisite behaviors for empathy. Despite the changes in the direction of improvement for some prerequisite behaviors for empathy, more studies are still needed to improve the game and evaluate it with a larger sample of participants.