In light of a growing body of work demonstrating the ability of games to transform cognitive skill sets and change attitudes toward social issues, including in public health, it is crucial to... Show More

In light of a growing body of work demonstrating the ability of games to transform cognitive skill sets and change attitudes toward social issues, including in public health, it is crucial to understand the potentially divergent experiences and outcomes afforded by analog and digital platforms. In a recent empirical study, the authors addressed the basic question of whether transferring a public health game from an analog to a digital format would impact players’ perceptions of the game and the efficacy of the game for stimulating changes to beliefs and cognitions. Results revealed that the digital version of the game, despite being a nearly identical translation, was perceived by players to be more complicated than the analog version and, consequently, was less effective at facilitating learning and attitude change. The authors propose several explanations for this finding, based on psychological theories, to help elucidate critical distinctions between non-digital and digital game play phenomenology.

This paper reviews the neuroscience foundation for understanding and harnessing neuroplastic processes that shape the structure and function of the human brain after birth, describes a newly... Show More

This paper reviews the neuroscience foundation for understanding and harnessing neuroplastic processes that shape the structure and function of the human brain after birth, describes a newly developed, integrated series of computer presented and physical exercises to promote activity-related development of neurocognitive systems of attention and executive function in elementary school children, and reviews evidence of the efficacy of the program. The computer-presented brain exercises have new functionalities that more fully shape the training to each user’s individual profile of cognitive strengths and weaknesses than was previously possible. The programs also provide assessments of each child’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses based on built in formal tests of cognition and error analytic algorithms applied to 15-20,000 responses from each child while using the brain training program.

Virtual Worlds, a recent addition to Internet offerings, are connected social spaces that have geographies and are populated by people using avatar representations. These spaces hold a great deal of... Show More

Virtual Worlds, a recent addition to Internet offerings, are connected social spaces that have geographies and are populated by people using avatar representations. These spaces hold a great deal of promise as part of a future portfolio of eHealth offerings. Utilizing virtual worlds, health care can be widely distributed and accessible via the Internet. They have particular affordances that lend themselves to achieving and supporting many types of health care. This paper describes some of the current applications that use virtual worlds as part of eHealth care, as well as future research that will factor into the way these activities develop. These examples are paving the way for virtual worlds to be part of the way people access health care in the future.

Childbirth is a complex and multidimensional experience for the mother, riddled with unforgettable emotions and sensations. In today’s cultural climate in California, a mother’s primary attendant... Show More

Childbirth is a complex and multidimensional experience for the mother, riddled with unforgettable emotions and sensations. In today’s cultural climate in California, a mother’s primary attendant for social support throughout labor is usually her partner. Preparing the partner is an integral step to making sure that the mother is well-supported in her birth. Because the mother’s experience is influenced by the support she receives, and because birth partners need more support than is recognized, the author targets birth partners with a learning intervention. The author investigates video games as a vehicle for knowledge transfer to the birth partner, both as currently available and as a positive learning tool. To address the problem of limited access to childbirth preparation methods, especially for under-served Californians, the author investigated, designed, created, and evaluated two tools: The Prepared Partner and Digital Birth. The Prepared Partner is an online Flash game, and Digital Birth is a free iPhone application that is still undergoing revision and testing. Both games allow the user to practice various supportive actions in the realm of childbirth support for a mother in labor. The author found that players met the learning goals due to The Prepared Partner, and answered positively on the survey questions about their enjoyment of the game.

Many of the cognitive declines in healthy aging are moderated by experience, suggesting that interventions may be beneficial. Goals for aging outcomes include improving performance on untrained... Show More

Many of the cognitive declines in healthy aging are moderated by experience, suggesting that interventions may be beneficial. Goals for aging outcomes include improving performance on untrained tasks, remediating observed cognitive declines, and ensuring preservation of functional ability. This selective review evaluates current progress towards these goals. Most research focuses on untrained tasks. Interventions associated with this outcome include games and exercises practicing specific cognitive skills, as well as aerobic exercise, and modestly benefit a relatively narrow range of cognitive tasks. Few studies have directly tested improvements in tasks on which individuals have been shown to experience longitudinal decline, so this goal has not been realized, though remediation can be examined rather easily. Little work has been done to develop psychometrically strong functional outcomes that could be used to test preservation of independence in everyday activities. Virtual reality approaches to functional assessment show promise for achieving the third goal.

Game-based medical simulations differ from other training modalities in that life processes must be simulated as part of the experience. Biological fidelity is the degree to which character... Show More

Game-based medical simulations differ from other training modalities in that life processes must be simulated as part of the experience. Biological fidelity is the degree to which character anatomical appearance and physiology behavior are represented within a game or simulation. Methods to achieve physiological fidelity include computational physiology engines, complex state machines, simple state machines and kinetic models. Traditional games also employ health scores that can also be employed for medical gaming. The selection of technique to is dependent upon the goals of the simulation, the types of input expected of the user, the amount of development work possible and the level of fidelity required. Apparent biological fidelity, responsiveness to user inputs and the ability to correct mistakes is often more important than actual biological fidelity.

This paper discusses the creation of two serious games developed by the Engender Games Group with the intention of meeting specific outcomes in the healthcare field. The processes and pitfalls of... Show More

This paper discusses the creation of two serious games developed by the Engender Games Group with the intention of meeting specific outcomes in the healthcare field. The processes and pitfalls of developing games of this kind are outlined with the intention of demonstrating how game developers and health care professionals can collaborate to produce compelling, fun games that meet specific goals. The Atendiendo el Parto en Casa (Home Birth), game is a collaboration with Drs. Dilys Walker and Carrie Rouse at the University of Washington Medical School to educate traditional midwives working in rural Mexico. The Flu Busters! game is a collaboration with a group of pediatric specialists at Winthrop-University Hospital on Long Island led by Dr. Leonard Krilov which explains how the flu vaccine works and encourages children to get vaccinated.

How to reduce cost, improve quality, and improve customer engagement are top of mind for healthcare leaders. Healthcare organizations are developing and testing comprehensive engagement strategies... Show More

How to reduce cost, improve quality, and improve customer engagement are top of mind for healthcare leaders. Healthcare organizations are developing and testing comprehensive engagement strategies to support consumers across the care continuum. In this environment some form of priority setting must occur, and it requires establishing connections between proposed innovation to a process of care and the outcomes. Digital tools offer a promise of meaningful measures that are affordable, embedded in the care delivery system and truly reflect patients’ experiences through the patient journey. This paper proposes a pragmatic path for building a business case for innovative digital health tools in community care settings. It overlays value model for healthcare IT investments with patient activation measures and innovation management techniques. It proposes that the intersection of system-generated measures and psychometric methods for data collection and analysis may lead to development of feasible patient engagement measures for healthcare.