Designing and evaluating casual health games for children and teenagers with cancer

Authors:
Kathrin Gerling;Alberto Fuchslocher;Ralf Schmidt;Nicole Krämer;Maic Masuch
Affiliations:
University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany;University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany;University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany;University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany;University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany
Venue:
ICEC'11 Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Entertainment Computing
Year:
2011

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Abstract

Because they offer an easy entry into play, casual games have become an increasingly popular leisure activity among children and teenagers, engaging particularly broad target audiences. In this paper, we present a casual game that addresses childhood cancer: Besides mere entertainment, a health game that focuses on cancer may serve as a clinical tool in order to teach children about the particularities of the disease and initiate discussion among cancer patients, their parents and medical staff. In this context, the results of an empirical study revealed a generally high acceptance of the health game among young patients, while parents and medical staff highlighted the educational potential of health games addressing cancer. Additionally, we discuss the challenges of evaluating digital games in a hospital setting which were revealed during the evaluation phase.