Serious Games in Health Care: a Survey

Summary

Objective

To present an overview of existing serious games in healthcare designed for patients, and the evaluation of their effects. Such games, aiming to help patients better understand their condi- tion or treatment, to foster healthy behaviors, or even to participate in therapies, are expected to grow in parallel with the importance of the videogaming industry.

Methods

References were searched in Medline and through recursive browsing of their citations.

Results

21 papers were identified and analyzed. Serious games are used to increase knowledge and control, foster preventive behaviors, or can be used in therapies. Their positive effects on improved patient understanding, adherence, and engagement, although documented mostly in preliminary studies, calls for the development and more thorough evaluation of these tools.

Keywords

Serious games - patient-centered healthcare software

• References

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