For those Americans weary of trying to remember how to put on a condom, the Federal government is here to help.
The National Institute of Mental Health awarded $238,500 in taxpayer money to Rhode Island Hospital for the creation of a video game app that would encourage condom use and healthy sex lifestyles for gay men.
The app’s aims are ambitious. The federal government has high hopes that this game will motivate users to be healthier by seeing the positive consequences of a playable character when he makes healthy choices. The hope also is that the user will build confidence and motivation when it comes to condom use.
“While gaming, participants will experience absorbing action-oriented adventures that increase information about their health (e.g. knowledge about [Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis] treatment and HIV), improve motivation (e.g. action-figures experience health benefits of adherence), and build skills (e.g. utilize clinicians as partners, condom self efficacy),” the grant’s abstract reads.
The game, which would be played as an iPhone app, is targeted at reducing the spread of HIV. An electronic pill box that tracks whether pills are taken will be wirelessly connected to the game, influencing your performance in the game based on if medication is taken.
This is not the first time the federal government has put its faith in this kind of technology to solve problems.
In fact, it’s not even the federal government’s first foray into the realm of gay men using apps. It spent $432,000 dollars to study if using gay hookup apps increases arousal for gay men.
It isn’t limited to sex either. The federal government awarded $242,381 dollars to buy teenagers PDA’s to help them stop smoking weed.
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