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Diabetes education given through digital games and video animations could help improve disease management in children. Journal of Pediatric Nursing.1 The authors said these interventions should be integrated into existing diabetes education programs and made them easy to access by patients around the world.
Digital Educational Games may help improve diabetes management for children/Africa studios – Stock.adobe.com
Over 300,000 children and adolescents in the United States have type 1 diabetes, making it one of the most common chronic diseases in this age group.2 Children can't always say what they need or how they feel. This can make disease management difficult. In children, glycemic control may affect poor development, suggesting that hyperglycemia may lead to general decline in cognitive ability, reduced motor speed, and lower acceptance language scores There are several studies that do.3
Read more: Defining resilience in adolescents with type 1 diabetes
“Digital health games can be used as a complementary method in many areas, such as improving quality of life, obtaining information about various diseases, and managing illnesses,” the authors write. “The reason for using digital games in the health field is that it can be addressed by increasing knowledge about various diseases, leading to behavioral changes, improving quality of life, and being easily included in educational and treatment applications. Digital games are available. attracts children's attention with audio and visual content, contributes to learning, and includes children in the learning process with digital feedback.”
A team of investigators conducted a study to examine the impact of diabetes education on children with type 1 diabetes through video animation on digital games and video quality and metabolic control. A single blind, randomized, controlled, experimental study was conducted at a pediatric endocrine outpatient clinic between September 2022 and September 2023. Before the research.
Of the patients, 27 were in the experimental group and 28 were in the control group. Patients in the experimental group visited a website containing audio and video animations on basic topics of type 1 diabetes. The video featured a character hospitalized with type 1 diabetes who received information from other characters about diabetes management, nutrition, exercise and insulin. At the end of each video there was a game associated with each section. If the patient wins the game, they move to the next section. But if they lose, they look at the section and play the game again until they win.
This study found that patients who participated in educational videos and games had significantly higher mean diabetes symptoms scores at the first and second follow-up visits. Patients in the study group had higher scores for treatment barriers, treatment adherence, and concern subdimensions. Furthermore, HBA1C values for patients in the study group decreased significantly over time compared to the control group.
“Digital gaming can be integrated with existing diabetes education programs to create an interactive and enjoyable learning environment,” the author concluded. “The content supported by video animation helps to make information more understandable and ensure retention. These interventions are integrated into existing diabetes education programs and are easily accessible worldwide. Digital gaming and video animation software must be available on all digital platforms that can be accessed via QR codes or links.”
read more: Diabetes Resource Center
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