Game Changer - Engagement

Closed Human-Computer Interaction Computer Science Games Engineering Bachelor Master Project Thesis Games Research Lab

Background

Pain and discomfort are invisible and complex experiences that account for the number one reason why people seek medical attention. To date, we have a number of advanced methods, such as radiography (X-rays) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which enable us to look inside the body and generate an image in order to help source the driving mechanisms of pain and discomfort. Prof. Boudreau and her colleagues have been working on Navigate Pain, a digital body mapping software application for capturing detailed information about the spatial and temporal aspects of self-reported pain and non-pain symptoms.

Tasks

‘Game Changer - Engagement’ sets out to support the process of collecting this patient data. There are two crucial aspects that the process needs to meet: Timely submission and resubmission of the patients’ observations. These observations are captured by drawings of occurrences of pain on abstract body shapes as accurately as possible. Now the goal of this research project is to introduce and evaluate various elements of gamification in order to encourage the patients’ commitment to fulfilling these requirements. Based on preceding research on gamification, gamification designs need to be developed that are tailored to both the application and the application context. Preliminary lab tests need to show the effectiveness of these additional efforts.

Prerequisites

A background in human-computer interaction research is required.

References

[1] Boudreau, Shellie A., et al. Digital pain drawings: assessing touch-screen technology and 3D body schemas. The Clinical journal of pain 32.2 (2016): 139-145.

[2] Heilbrunn, Benjamin, Philipp Herzig, and Alexander Schill. Gamification Analytics—Methods and Tools for Monitoring and Adapting Gamification Designs. Gamification. Springer International Publishing, 2017. 31-47.

Contact Persons at the University Würzburg