Poverty is an issue that allied health and healthcare professionals face when practicing in any setting, including hospitals, clinics, and schools. Poverty is a ubiquitous condition that impacts half the world’s population indirectly and directly. Locally, the city of Miami is one of the poorest cities in the United States with 21.3 percent of residents living below the poverty level (Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources). In 2015, more than 43 million people were living in poverty nationally (World Hunger Education Service). Internationally, the World Bank estimated that 896 million people live on $1.90 day or less (World Hunger Education Service). Research has shown that poverty influences the five dimensions of family, including health, productivity, physical environment, emotional well-being, and family interaction (Park, Turnbull, & Turnbull).

Despite these facts, many individuals working with poverty stricken people require a much greater understanding of the global and often life-long impacts that being poor has particularly on health. By playing Dwell, participants roleplay as an individual or multi-person household and experience how poverty influences their ability to live a healthy life and access healthy resources. An emphasis on facilitated reflection and debrief are critical to the Dwell educational experience. While the initial focus was on educating students studying in health care related fields, there has been much broader interest in the game at the university and as a result we are planning to expand the game’s target audience to include more persons who will interact with poverty-stricken individuals in not only professional capacities but also personal contexts – such as teachers, as well as middle school, high school, and college students. This broader audiences’ participation in the game can promote the development of empathy and compassion towards those living with financial strain and understanding their unique challenges.

Given the importance of educating future professionals in the fields of healthcare and other education about the implications of poverty, the Dwell team’s goal was to create a game with an educational impact that does not require long setup time or a significant amount of human capital to run the event, especially in comparison to similar tools currently used for health education. On the market is another simulation product called Missouri Poverty Simulation with similar educational goals; however, this simulation activity requires a large number of resources – including several human facilitators – to run the activity, which may not be feasible for every situation. Additionally, the Missouri Poverty Simulation does not have the in-game points of reflection or “Did You Know?” poverty facts built in like Dwell does.