The effect of Triumf mobile health game on psychological well-being and health-related quality of life among pediatric cancer patients: A pilot study
Date
2019
Authors
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Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Children with chronic illness hold a higher risk of developing mental disorders, and psychological support may not be available to all patients. Triumf mobile solution is a gamified digital health intervention, which aims to detect, prevent and/or reduce the potential psychological problems resulting from chronic illness. The current study described the theoretical basis of Triumf intervention game and investigated the within-person effect of the intervention on psychological well-being and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Nine pediatric cancer patients aged 7-12 years participated in a 60-day intervention period with a suggested daily gameplay of ten minutes. Participants and their parents filled in Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and KIDSCREEN-52 (KS-52) before and after the intervention. Questionnaire scores were compared with in-game reported well-being, motivation and attitude scores, and intervention activity. Psychological well-being of the participants improved after the intervention period. KS-52 physical health subscale score was observed as a broad approximate instead of generic HRQoL, which also improved after the intervention period. Motivation and attitudes were not associated with participants’ well-being, HRQoL or intervention activity. The hypothesis that the intervention questions could detect similar problems as questionnaires found partial support. The results suggest that Triumf digital intervention in the form of a mobile health game could have a positive effect on the psychological well-being among pediatric cancer patient population. Future studies should seek to primarily address the intervention’s effect among other populations, and further validate the questions used in the intervention.
Description
Keywords
digital health intervention, mobile health platform, mHealth, serious game, game for health, health app, psychological support, mental health, chronic illness, cancer, pediatrics, digitaalne terviselahendus, mobiilse tervise platvorm, m-tervis, tõsimäng, terviserakendus, psühholoogiline tugi, vaimne tervis, krooniline haigus, vähk, pediaatria