A Survey of Digital Health Interventions for Children with Cancer

Abstract

Childhood cancer is the most common cause of death by illness in children globally. Fortunately, the survival rate of this deadly disease can be as high as 80% in high-income countries with cancer treatment. However, cancer treatments can result in large symptom burdens for children and adolescents. This, and many other factors can result in treatment non-adherence in cancer patients, which will strongly affect their survival rate. Therefore, it is important for interventions to be conducted in order to make the cancer experience more bearable. This survey reviews eleven existing game-based digital health interventions including Re-Mission and Ben’s Game, and lists the various aims of these interventions, such as empowerment to fight cancer and symptom management. The game mechanics of these interventions are also identified and the ways these mechanics contribute to the aims of these interventions are analyzed. Finally, limitations of existing interventions are discussed and suggestions for future works are given.

Keywords

• Childhood cancer
• Serious game
• Digital health intervention