Table 9 Summary of qualitative feedback (3 months post intervention)

1. Benefit of Serious Game Approach

• ‘Made it a bit more real than just the info you get in leaflets and books’.

• ‘I liked that fact that the situations presented were normal – watching TV, in the kitchen and so on’.

2. Changing attitudes and behaviours

• ‘It’s so easy to get yourself tied up with what you should say, what you shouldn’t say, what will other parents think and so on. This game made me think more about how I say things and I how I keep things open with my kids…It’s more important to make sure your kids can come to you and talk when they need to’.

• ‘The game I think helped most by making me realise it’s more about making sure the channels of communication are open and discussing things rather than me just deciding what they need to know and sticking with that whatever they say’

3. Increasing awareness of opportunities

• ‘It made me realise maybe I’m not even noticing opportunities to talk about sex at home. Actually there was something that day that when I got back home, if I hadn’t played the game I don’t think I’d have picked up on at all. I wouldn’t have done anything with it, it would have passed me by, a comment my daughter made. Playing the game made me think about what I could be doing more’.

4. Adjustment to own communication style:

• ‘My daughter is … starting to notice women in magazines and how glamorous/thin they are. When she was looking through a magazine I sat with her and chatted about the pictures. I wanted to shout they’re airbrushed and fake! But I knew if I did she’d stop listening right away. So I took some of the tips as my feedback suggested I tend to be a bit overkill and I took a breath and asked her what she thought, if she thought the photo might have been changed, what was beautiful about the lady, what was beautiful about other people and just chatted it through. By the end of the chat I’d made my point and I think crucially she’d felt that she’d come to that decision herself.’