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Developing a Health Game to Prepare Preschool Children for Anesthesia: Formative Study Using a Child-Centered
Brynja Ingadottir1,2, Elina Laitonen3, Adalheidur Stefansdottir4
1Faculty of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Insights
Preschool children can actively contribute to designing health education games for anesthesia preparation. This child-centered approach enhanced game usability, making it ready for clinical testing and improving pediatric patient coping strategies.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Anesthesia
- Health Education Technology
- User-Centered Design
Background:
- Millions of children undergo anesthesia annually, often experiencing fear and anxiety impacting recovery.
- Educational games offer a promising medium for preparing children, utilizing relaxation, distraction, and education.
- Involving preschool children in user-centered design presents unique developmental challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the development and usability of a computer-based educational health game for preschool children facing anesthesia.
- To document lessons learned from applying a child-centered design approach with young children.
Main Methods:
- A formative mixed-methods, child-centered study design was employed.
- Preschool children (4-6 years) participated in playful workshops (n=26) to inform game design.
- Usability testing involved game-playing and interviews (n=16), with data collected via observation, interviews, and drawings.
Main Results:
- Children actively shared insights on hospitals, emotions, and game preferences.
- Usability testing confirmed the game's high usability and provided data for modifications.
- The participatory design process significantly informed game development and future iterations.
Conclusions:
- Preschool children can effectively contribute to designing relevant health education games through playful engagement.
- The child-centered approach successfully improved the game's usability.
- The educational game is now optimized and prepared for clinical testing in pediatric anesthesia preparation.
Background:
Every year, millions of children undergo medical procedures that require anesthesia. Fear and anxiety are common among young children undergoing such procedures and can interfere with the child's recovery and well-being. Relaxation, distraction, and education are methods that can be used to prepare children and help them cope with fear and anxiety, and serious games may be a suitable medium for these purposes. User-centered design emphasizes the involvement of end users during the development and testing of products, but involving young, preschool children may be challenging.
Objective:
One objective of this study was to describe the development and usability of a computer-based educational health game intended for preschool children to prepare them for upcoming anesthesia. A further objective was to describe the lessons learned from using a child-centered approach with the young target group.
Methods:
A formative mixed methods child (user)-centered study design was used to develop and test the usability of the game. Preschool children (4-6 years old) informed the game design through playful workshops (n=26), and usability testing was conducted through game-playing and interviews (n=16). Data were collected in Iceland and Finland with video-recorded direct observation and interviews, as well as children's drawings, and analyzed with content analysis and descriptive statistics.
Results:
The children shared their knowledge and ideas about hospitals, different emotions, and their preferences concerning game elements. Testing revealed the high usability of the game and provided important information that was used to modify the game before publishing and that will be used in its further development.
Conclusions:
Preschool children can inform game design through playful workshops about health-related subjects that they are not necessarily familiar with but that are relevant for them. The game's usability was improved with the participation of the target group, and the game is now ready for clinical testing.
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