Patient Empowerment Games
Video games lend helping hand to doctors looking to slay big, bad cancer dragons.
This is a video game1 newly developed by students and faculty at the University of Utah to lend a helping hand to doctors looking to slay big, bad cancer dragons. They are hoping to give kids the power to beat cancer by playing this game.
"If they can see themselves as super heroes fighting off an illness to achieve a state of health, that's exactly the kind of thing that we want them to experience," said Roger Altizer, adjunct professor at the U. and director of game design and production.
Video game helps children with cancer see themselves as heroes,empowering them mentally to fight disease. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
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This prototype of a patient empowerment game (currently has no official name) has already proven effective at giving kids with cancer something to look forward to. It might also increase their physical strength with various movements required throughout the game.
The main character is Vance B. Strong who goes on vacatoin and ends up charged with saving the entire town of Sandy Shore (the goal). He must go up against an army of robotic crabs on the beach (restrictions), a Ferris wheel full of people who need saving and has to build a defensive wall around the town to protect everyone (tasks).
Each time the hero advances, he becomes a stronger character while the "enemy" becomes weaker and continues to diminish.
"When Vance is building the wall to save the town, it's a metaphor for building up your immunity to fight off disease," Altizer said. "While the game has a lot of fun concepts in it, everything in the game is related to the patient's experience."
This new prototype games is played on Sony's PlayStation3 and, as per doctor's orders, has no violence, and promotes physical activity, which patients confined to a hospital room often don't get.
Dr. Carol S. Bruggers, a professor of pediatric hematology and oncology at the U said the game helps patients deal with the "psychology of life."
"Researchers have used video games in the rehabilitation setting before, to promote activity and range of motion, but using it to inspire hope in patients is a new idea," Bruggers said.
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1 Wendy Leonard, Deseret News, Published: Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011
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