Antenatal Mental Health Awareness Using Serious Games

Abstract

" Antenatal mental health problems are significant risk factors for postnatal mental health conditions. Early detection of this dilemma minimises the risk of serious consequences such as preterm birth, low birth weight, reduced child growth and fetal distress. The pessimistic of this serious issue has led the affected mothers to commit suicide because of low mental tolerance. Lack of Antenatal mental health awareness is the significant reason behind this issue. The majority of the women are unaware of the psychological issues and the symptoms that could occur during the antenatal period, therefore they are very unlikely to seek help. Existing awareness programs have a significant amount of limitations. Awareness programs with less target audience, limited campaigns to rural areas and costly affaire in participation are some of the significant limitations that were found by the author. This dissertation intends to overcome the limitations found by delivering a novel awareness solution via serious games which incorporates the techniques of game-based learning. Serious games are a great solution to provide awareness for this dilemma. It also has been proven to be effective in augmenting cognitive abilities. MamaMoods is the serious game that is researched and developed by the author to raise awareness on Antenatal Mental Health among society by letting the player play and learn through the game itself. It also aims to identify the symptoms and solutions to live a healthy life"