Close2U: An App for Monitoring Cancer Patients with a Gamification System to Improve the Engagement

Abstract

Nowadays, gamification offers several advantages in order to motivate a change in the behavior towards health and wellness. Although it is a relatively new trend, many fields have already realized its potential, and those related to health have also begun to make use of it. This paper introduces an application developed to improve patient monitoring and motivation through the use of gamification. We have applied the mechanics and dynamics of games in a non-game context, such as the introduction of data for health monitoring, in order to attract the patient. With the use of gamification, we make the introduction of data less tedious and, in addition, increase levels of motivation, as a further benefit. In this work we have conducted a user study aimed at evaluating the usability of gamification. We also studied the resources that encourage patients to use the application and how to increase their motivation and satisfaction. The results show that the app is easy to use. Second, they show that we implemented a scalable and self-recursive system. Finally, these results indicate that our system for resources sharing is a system in which patients feel comfortable when sharing and receiving those resources and they encourage us for further developments and studies based on the feedback received.

Keywords

• gamification
• social interaction
• health
• cancer
• motivation
• resources