Gamification in Health Care Management: Systematic Review of the Literature and Research Agenda

Abstract

This research aims to advance the understanding of gamification in health care management using a systematic review of the literature through a multiphase analysis. To do so, first, we extract the relevant bibliographic data for our research according to a methodology of data generation structured in six stages and a descriptive analysis oriented to the technical characterization of the data. Then, we codify all the information, identify the main attributes with the collaboration of two independent experts and check their validity using the evaluation of two focus groups of professionals in gamification and health care management. We found seven attributes: (1) health care users, (2) psychology, (3) behavior, (4) activities, (5) health field, (6) technology, and (7) gamification elements. Within each of these seven attributes, there are a series of main elements that are detailed in the following for each of them. (1) Health care users: their age and the role they play in the health system. (2) Psychology: cognition, positive and negative emotions. (3) Behavior: healthy behavior encouragement, such as compliance, collaboration and responsibility. (4) Activities: physical activity and food. (5) Health field: preventive medicine and chronic diseases. (6) Technology: cell phones. (7) Gamification elements: different elements, but the number of articles in which these elements and their interactions are studied in depth is limited. Our results point toward a promising present and future research agenda that is in parallel with the development of relevant fields for the sector, such as chronic diseases, health education and preventive medicine.