Robot-Assisted Immersive Escape Room Game for Tobacco Harm Prevention Among Elementary School Students

In the researchers' words

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a robot-assisted immersive escape room intervention for tobacco harm prevention among upper-grade elementary school students. A total of 200 fifth- and sixth-grade students from elementary schools in New Taipei City, Taiwan, will participate in this quasi-experimental, parallel-group design. Participants will be allocated non-randomly to either the experimental group, which receives the robot-assisted immersive escape room intervention, or the active comparator group, which receives standard classroom-based tobacco harm prevention education. In the experimental arm, an educational robot named "Anti-Smoking Kebbi" serves as a non-player character (NPC) to facilitate human-robot interaction through puzzle-solving and scenario-based learning focused on e-cigarette and tobacco hazards. Both groups will be assessed using validated questionnaires at three time points: baseline (pre-intervention), immediately post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up. Primary and secondary outcome measures will include changes in tobacco harm knowledge, health beliefs, smoking refusal self-efficacy, extended expectation confirmation, learning engagement, behavioral intention, and advocacy intention.