In March of 2016, the EU-funded None in Three projects was launched in Barbados and Grenada. The project involved five strands of action, one of which was the development of a computer game for use as an education tool in raising awareness and changing attitudes that contribute to relationship violence. Childhood and adolescence are critical periods for such an intervention because young people’s attitudes are not fully formed and can be altered more easily than among adults.
After almost two years of research, game development and evaluation, we are pleased to announce the launch of our new prosocial computer game: JESSE.
Developed and evaluated by our team of technicians and scientists at the University of Huddersfield in the UK, the game has been designed in partnership with experts and children from Barbados and Grenada. The storyline, environment, and graphics are based on cultural realities in both countries with members of the general public playing the voice actors for the characters in the game.
A close partnership with Ministries responsible for education in Barbados and Grenada, together with School Principals, students, teachers, and parents enabled us to carry out robust scientific trials with over 400 children and young people to test the effectiveness of the game.
“The research is clear: when children play aggressive computer games their behaviour can become violent but when they play socially conscientious games, their behaviour correspondingly improves. Trials of Jesse have shown that when children play the game as part of a class lesson, levels of awareness of the impact of domestic violence and empathy are increased. These exciting findings are important because as the UN states, educational programmes which challenge attitudes that contribute to violence against women are an important strategy in preventing it” (Professor Adele Jones, Project Director)
Jesse is designed primarily for working with young people in education settings, however, it is also valuable as a training tool for professionals. It comes with a user manual and is available for free download on PC & Android devices and also for web play at http://noneinthree.hud.ac.uk/barbados-and-grenada/jesse/.
Throughout the month of February, JESSE will be featured on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @noneinthree and on the None in Three websites http://noneinthree.hud.ac.uk/barbados-and-grenada/.