The impact of escape room game and role-playing on nursing students’ violence against women assessment skills and attitudes toward violence against women: A randomised controlled trial

Aim: To evaluate the effects of escape rooms and role-playing methods on nursing students’ ability to recognise and assess violence against women and their attitudes toward violence. Background: Innovative and practical strategies are essential to enhance nursing students’ capacity to identify and address violence. Gamification offers a promising approach to the development of these skills. Design: A pre-test and post-test factorial group randomised controlled trial was conducted. Methods: A total of 120 nursing students were randomised into three groups: escape room game (n = 40), role-playing (n = 40) and control (n = 40). Data were collected using the Knowledge Test on Violence Against Women, Scale for Attitudes Toward Violence and Scale for Nurses’ and Midwives’ Recognition of the Symptoms of Violence Against Women. Assessments were conducted one week and one month after the intervention. Results: Both the escape room game and role-playing groups demonstrated significantly higher knowledge test scores and more contemporary, non-approving attitudes toward violence than the control group at both time points. The escape room group, in particular, achieved notable improvements in recognising signs of violence against women. Conclusions: Escape room games and role-playing are effective educational methods to improve nursing students’ knowledge, attitudes and assessment skills related to violence prevention. Incorporating these methods into nursing education programs is recommended to enhance the learning outcomes.