Högskolan i Skövde

Blood sampling is one of the most common medical procedures while also being one of the most anxiety-inducing ones for children. This can make it not only an unpleasant experience for children and their caregivers, but also difficult for medical staff to perform the procedure. Although there are various strategies to support children in preparing for the procedure and to help them cope with it the situation, these might not always be accessible or known to the children or their caregivers. An educational mobile game can potentially provide an effective solution to reduce children’s anxiety by giving them a better understanding of the procedure and its purpose and thereby increasing their willingness to cooperate.

The first part of the method of this thesis project was to create a game design rationale on the foundation of a literature review, an analysis of similar media and interviews with pediatric professionals and patients. Based on this framework and in collaboration with the Pediatric Health Play Team at the University Hospital Essen in Essen, Germany, an educational game about blood sampling, titled “Kleiner Pieks” (“Little Prickle”) was developed as a web-based interactive storybook forthe iPad. The game was evaluated with N = 20 children aged 5 – 12 years. The results of this study indicate a statistically significant reduction in anxiety about blood samplingafter participants played the game. Further research is needed to explore and contextualize its effectiveness in comparison to other anxiety management and preparation methods for children undergoing blood sampling.