The impact of an interactive computer game on the quality of life of children undergoing chemotherapy

Abstract

Background:Quality of life (QOL) of children with cancer reduces right from the diagnosis of disease and the start of treatment. Computer games in medicine are utilized to interact with patients and to improve their health-related behaviors. This study aimed to investigate the effect of an interactive computer game on the QOL of children undergoing chemotherapy.Materials and Methods:In this clinical trial, 64 children with cancer aged between 8 and12 years were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to experimental or control group. The experimental group played a computer game for 3 hours a week for 4 consecutive weeks and the control group only received routine care. The data collection tool was the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) 3.0 Cancer Module Child self-report designed for children aged between 8 to 12 years. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS software.Results:Before intervention, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of mean total QOL score (p = 0.87). However, immediately after the intervention (p = 0.02) and 1 month after the intervention (p < 0.001), the overall mean QOL score was significantly higher in the intervention group than the control group.Conclusions:Based on the findings, computer games seem to be effective as a tool in influencing health-related behavior and improving the QOL of children undergoing chemotherapy. Therefore, according to the findings of this study, computer games can be used to improve the QOL of children undergoing chemotherapy.

New Technologies to Improve Pain, Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents with Cancer: A Systematic Review

“…A flowchart of the study selection process and the reasons for the exclusion are shown in Figure 1. This review analyzed four randomized clinical trials [18][19][20][21], one no randomized clinical trial [22], two quasi-experimental (non-equivalent control group), one pre-post-test between-subject design [23,24], and an uncontrolled pilot study [25]. In total, the eight studies reviewed had 286 patients.…”

“…In total, the eight studies reviewed had 286 patients. One of the included studies was carried out in an ambulatory setting [25] and the rest in a clinical setting [18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. In addition, two randomized controlled studies conducted follow up [20,25] (Table 1).…”

“…The study by Nilsson et al [22] was published in the 'European Journal of Oncology Nursing', which has an impact factor of 1.697and is also located in the second quartile. On the other hand, the study by Fazelniya et al [20], published in the 'Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research', lacked this type of quality index. Finally, the study by Alemi et al [19] that was included in this review was not published in any scientific journal, but in an international conference on robotics that took place in Australia.…”

“…Their ages ranged from four to 18 years, with an average of 9.2 years. These data did not include those of the study by Fazelniya et al [20], since there was no specified age of the participants. Regarding the gender of the sample, the total percentage of girls was 62.6%.…”

“…Regarding the technology used in the different interventions, one study was carried out with a smartphone [25], five studies used multiple devices (virtual reality device with helmet and headset, computer tablet, and computer for video games) [20][21][22][23][24], and two of them included robots as part of the therapy [18,19]. In the studies by Atzori et al [21] and Nilsson et al [22], virtual reality was used as a distracting intervention during a venous puncture, comparing it with the standard of care in this type of invasive techniques.…”