�Video games are among the most popular entertainment media in the globe.
Now, groundbreaking research shows that a specially designed video plot can
raise positive behaviors in whitney Moore Young Jr. cancer patients that enhance the
potency of aesculapian treatment. This research, sponsored by the nonprofit
organization HopeLab and published in the medical journal Pediatrics,
provides scientific evidence for a growing field of product development that
lights-out into the positive potential difference of picture games and other popular technology
to improve human health.
"We have very effective treatments for malignant neoplastic disease in adolescents, but they
only ferment if the patient takes them," said Steve Cole, Ph.D., vice president
of research at HopeLab and co-author of the article. "This study shows that a
strategically designed video game can be a powerful new tool to enhance the
impact of medical handling by motivation healthy behavior in the patient."
The study evaluated the shock of playacting Re-Mission(TM), a video game
developed by HopeLab specifically for teens and young adults with cancer, on
key behavioural and psychological factors associated with successful cancer
treatment. In Re-Mission, players pilot a microscopical robot named Roxxi as
she travels through the bodies of fictional cancer patients, blasting away
cancer cells and battling the side-effects of cancer and cancer treatments.
This study on Re-Mission is the largest randomised, controlled study of a
video game intervention always conducted, following 375 teens and lester Willis Young adults
with cancer at 34 medical centers in the United States, Canada and Australia
during leash months of cancer treatment.
In the study, participants who were given Re-Mission maintained higher
levels of chemotherapy in their roue (20%; p=.002) and took their
antibiotics more than consistently (16%; p=.012) than those in the control mathematical group,
demonstrating the game's impact at a biological storey. Participants given
Re-Mission likewise showed quicker acquisition of cancer-related cognition (230%;
p=.035) and faster increase in self-efficacy (370%; p=.011).
"We now hump that games can stimulate positive changes in the way
individuals manage their health," aforementioned Dr. Cole. "The game not only motivates
positive health behaviour; it likewise gives players a greater sense of power and
control over their disease -- in fact, that seems to be its key factor."
Analyses of study information suggest that patients' increased sense of control
over cancer (self-efficacy) was a major driver of the game's effect on
medical treatment utilisation. To better understand how game play delivers
the outcomes highlighted in the Pediatrics article, HopeLab conducted a study
that utilizes functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) applied science to
analyze the brainiac regions that are activated when people play Re-Mission.
Data from this research will be presented in Tokyo at the 10th International
Congress of Behavioral Medicine August 27 - 30, 2008.
"The serve to create and judge Re-Mission was highly collaborative,
often intriguing, and an incredible erudition experience," aforementioned Pam Omidyar,
HopeLab founder and circuit card chair. "The publication of Re-Mission information
represents the fulfillment of HopeLab's institution vision -- that rationally
engineered technology can be a brawny tool to improve the health of young
people."
Other study authors include Pamela M. Kato, Ph.D., Ed.M.; Andrew S.
Bradlyn, Ph.D., and Brad H. Pollock, Ph.D., MPH. HopeLab is applying insights
gained from the development and study of Re-Mission to inform ongoing work in
cancer, as well as innovative approaches to direct obesity and other continuing
diseases that impact young people.
To read the entire Pediatrics article, visit
here.
About the Re-Mission(TM) Video Game
Re-Mission combines biologic accuracy with an honest line drawing of the
challenges faced by thomas Young cancer patients. Re-Mission's independent character,
Roxxi, is a gutsy, fully-armed nanobot world Health Organization seeks forbidden and destroys cancer
cells throughout the human dead body, battling cancer and its life-threatening
effects. Through 20 different levels of game play, Re-Mission illustrates
what occurs inner the bodies of thomas Young cancer patients and how they can most
in effect fight their disease.
HopeLab has distributed more than 125,000 free copies of Re-Mission in 80
countries since its release in April 2006. Re-Mission is usable to
download or order at hypertext transfer protocol://www.subsidence.net. The game is available in English,
Spanish and French and is free of charge to young people with malignant neoplastic disease, their
families and caregivers; a US$20 donation is suggested to others interested
in receiving a copy of the game. Re-Mission is as well distributed through
partnerships with organizations that support HopeLab's commitment to provide
Re-Mission free of charge to young crab patients, including CIGNA
HealthCare,
the ESA Foundation , and
Starlight Children's Foundation . Re-Mission is rated T (Teen) by the Entertainment
Software Ratings Board.
About HopeLab
HopeLab is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2001 by Board Chair Pam
Omidyar. HopeLab combines stringent research with innovative solutions to
ameliorate the wellness and quality of life of offspring people living with continuing
illness. HopeLab applies a research-based, customer-focused development good example
to make products that address chronic illnesses in young people, including
cancer, obesity, reap hook cell disease, major depressive disorder and autism.
HopeLab
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