Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 11, 2025
Digital Home-Monitoring of Patients after Kidney Transplantation: The MACCS Platform
Published on: April 12, 2021
A gamified mobile health intervention for children in day surgery care: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Arja Rantala1, Anna-Leena Vuorinen2, Jonna Koivisto3
1Research Unit of Nursing Science and Health Management, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Insights
This study evaluates a gamified mobile health intervention for children undergoing surgery. The goal is to reduce pre-operative anxiety and improve the overall surgical care experience for pediatric patients.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric surgery
- Digital health interventions
- Patient education
Background:
- Children undergoing surgery often experience significant pre-operative anxiety and post-operative pain.
- Mobile health (mHealth) interventions offer a novel approach to support pediatric patients during surgical care.
- Gamification in mHealth may enhance engagement and therapeutic outcomes for children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To outline the protocol for a randomized controlled trial (RCT) assessing a gamified mHealth intervention.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention in reducing pre-operative anxiety in children.
- To explore secondary outcomes including fear, pain, and parental satisfaction.
Main Methods:
- A two-arm RCT protocol is described.
- 62 children will be randomized to an intervention group (gamified mHealth app) or a control group (routine care with a parental support app).
- Data collection includes pre-operative anxiety, fear, post-operative pain, and parental satisfaction, with data collection initiated in August 2020.
Main Results:
- The study is an ongoing RCT, and results are pending.
- The trial aims to determine the efficacy of the gamified mHealth intervention.
- Outcomes will inform potential hospital adoption and use for patient education.
Conclusions:
- The findings will indicate if the gamified mHealth intervention is suitable for hospital implementation.
- The study will establish the intervention's potential to educate children and alleviate surgical anxiety.
- Successful outcomes could lead to improved pediatric surgical care pathways.
Aims:
To describe a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial which will evaluate the effectiveness of a gamified mobile health intervention for children in whole day surgery care.
Design:
A study protocol for a two-arm randomized controlled trial.
Methods:
Participants will be randomly assigned to the intervention group (N = 62), in which patients receive routine care and play a mobile game designed for children or the control group (N = 62), in which patients receive routine care, including a mobile phone application that supports parents during the care path. The primary outcome is children's pre-operative anxiety, while the secondary outcome measures included fear and postoperative pain, along with parental satisfaction and anxiety. Data collection started in August 2020.
Results:
The results of the ongoing randomized controlled trial will determine whether the developed gamified mobile health intervention can be recommended for hospital use, and whether it could be used to educate children about their surgical treatment to decrease anxiety.
