About the efficacy of a serious game in critical appraisal learning: a cluster randomized controlled trial

Introduction: Serious games have been reported to be a valuable method of learning for over a decade. Aim: The authors assessed the efficacy of using a serious games to teach critical appraisal practice to medical students in comparison to face-to-face learning methods. Methods: This was a cluster randomised controlled trial including 3rdyear medical students. The control group had to perform a critical appraisal of two articles guided by a checklist, while the intervention group performed a critical appraisal using a home-made serious game. Judgment criteria consisted of the students’ scores attributed to their appraisal of a same article after the training period. Results: 24 students in the control and intervention group were enrolled in the study. There was no significant difference in scores between both groups. The satisfaction questionnaire highlighted more motivation and self-accomplishment feeling in the intervention group. Conclusion: This study didn’t show a significant difference between the scores of both groups but the motivation of the students included in the intervention group was improved and encourages the use of both methods in critical appraisal teaching.