Health education is rarely fun. Too often, the material is presented in books or pamphlets and its over the head of the average patient.
But games can change that scenario. Take Re-Mission, a game for iOS and Android that helps children and young adults learn about cancer and how treatments work. Now in its 10th year, Re-Mission has proven quite successful in helping children and young adults deal with cancer and treatment adherence. The video game was developed by a California non-profit with backing from Cigna and Genentech.
Beth Bryant understands the potential for games to engage patients with healthcare providers. She is the driving force behind the Games for Health symposium taking place on Sunday, Nov. 8, at the seventh annual mHealth Summit.
[Learn more about the 2015 mHealth Summit.]
"It's not just personal stories or sales pitches we're looking for" at the symposium, she says. "We want to hear what (games and gaming technology) does for health and healthcare and how does it improve patient engagement."
Bryant is putting together a schedule of speakers who will give 20-minute presentations. Also on the agenda is a special guest – IBM's Blue Mix Garage, which will be showing how Watson can be used to develop healthcare-specific games. She expects that attendees will come in with ideas for new games, which the IBM engineers in attendance can turn into small prototypes during the day.
Also scheduled to attend are two mHealth gaming companies from the Netherlands, evidence that the movement is a global one. Bryant says small, niche companies around the world, as well as education-based health systems, universities and non-profits, are coming up with great ideas for mHealth games and finding small markets for them.
The mHealth Summit Symposium – whose speakers will include Thomas Talbot of the USC Institute of Creative Technologies; Howard Rose, president and design director of First Hand Technology; and the familiar face (and dreadlocks) of mHealth pioneer and Ayogo CEO Michael Fergusson, among others – will also look to bridge that gap between games that look good on paper and games that will resonate with consumers and providers.
"It's a more mature field now, but the questions are still there – where is the evidence that this works? Where is the research?" Bryant asks. "How do we prove it – and do we really need to?"
The Games for Health Symposium takes place from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, in Pontiac Ballroom D at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center, just outside Washington D.C. For more information on the mHealth Summit, the HIMSS Connected Health Conference or the co-located CyberSecurity Summit and Population Health Summit, visit here.
