# Health Quest: Engaging Adolescents in Health Careers with Technology-Rich Personalized Learning

> **NIH NIH R25** · NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY RALEIGH · 2020 · $253,654

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Engaging adolescents' interest in pursuing careers in health science and the health professions offers
significant promise for building our nation's healthcare and health research capacity. The goal of this project is
to create Health Quest, an intelligent game-based learning environment that increases adolescents' knowledge
of, interest in, and self-efficacy to pursue health science careers. Three specific aims will be accomplished by
the project:
1. Design and develop Health Quest to engage adolescents' interest in the health sciences utilizing
 personalized learning technologies that integrate the following components: (a) the Health Quest Career
 Adventure Game, an intelligent game-based learning environment that leverages AI technologies to
 create personalized health career adventures; (b) the Health Quest Student Discovery website, which
 will feature interactive video interviews with health professionals about their biomedical, behavioral, and
 clinical research careers; and (c) the Health Quest Teacher Resource Center website, which will provide
 online professional development materials and in-class support for teachers' classroom implementation of
 Health Quest.
2. Investigate the impact of Health Quest on adolescents' (1) knowledge of biomedical, behavioral, and
 clinical research careers; (2) interest in biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research careers; and (3) self-
 efficacy for pursuing biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research careers by conducting a matched
 comparison study in middle school classes.
!
3. Examine the effect of Health Quest on diverse adolescents by gender and racial/ethnicity. Working closely
 with underrepresented minorities throughout all design and development phases of the project, the project
 team will specifically design Health Quest to develop girls' and members of underrepresented groups'
 knowledge of, interest in, and self-efficacy to pursue health science careers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9984446
- **Project number:** 5R25GM129215-04
- **Recipient organization:** NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY RALEIGH
- **Principal Investigator:** James Curtis Lester
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $253,654
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9984446

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9984446, Health Quest: Engaging Adolescents in Health Careers with Technology-Rich Personalized Learning (5R25GM129215-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9984446. Licensed CC0.

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