René Baranyi

Chances for serious games in rehabilitation of stroke patients on the example of utilizing the Wii Fit Balance Board

This publication describes the analysis and development of a serious game for the rehabilitation of stroke patients, which was conducted with the assistance of an experienced physiotherapist using a user-centered design. After a stroke, patients often complain about balance related problems or partial paralysis. Normal rehabilitation training depends on balance and strength exercises. In such cases balance plates are often used as training devices, but patients often report lack of motivation especially when training at home. The research objective of this publication was to develop a serious game using the Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board. From a physiotherapeutic view it should help patients suffering from a stroke throughout their rehabilitation, especially to increase the motivation to do their exercises. Since every patient is different, the developed serious game can be customized by a physiotherapist for the individual patients needs. A lot of customization options provide optimal support for the entire rehabilitation process.

WristDroid - A serious game to support and motivate patients throughout their wrist rehabilitation

Wrist injuries are a common and frequent health issue requiring rehabilitation. Occupational and physical therapists create individual exercises for their patients, which include both ambulatory/stationary and home exercises. Practice and literature show, however, that autonomously performed exercises are likely not carried out accurately and may endanger progress of rehabilitation. We propose the design of WristDroid - an Android-based serious game to leverage execution of home exercises and deliver enjoyable therapeutic progress in a motivational environment that patients can thrive on. Two occupational and eight physical therapists were interviewed to identify requirements for such an application and aided in refinement of various prototypes. Preliminary evaluation results by physical therapists suggest that WristDroid supports wrist rehabilitation and offers a motivating and empowering way to recover from wrist injuries.

NutritionRush - a serious game to support people with the awareness of their nutrition intake

Malnutrition poses a threat to our physical health and to our well-being. Among the effects of malnutrition are stunting, wasting, overweight, obesity or micronutrient deficiencies. All of which foster the onset of noncommunicable diseases, which grow at alarming rates, especially in the European Region, according to the World Health Organization. This problem can be found across all age groups. In order to raise awareness on that matter and educate about healthy nutrition the authors designed a serious game which was entitled “NutritionRush” together with a nutritionist. It offers a nutrition library to look up nutrition details regarding nutrients, nutritional values, daily energy intake and encourages users to actively employ their knowledge while trying to accomplish specific missions during the game part. The authors also evaluated the initial prototype of NutritionRush with 14 participants in terms of gameplay satisfaction, user experience, quality of nutritional content and the potential to educate or foster healthy eating behaviors. The feedback showed that there is a lot of potential for such serious games and that the prototype is a good initial starting point for different identified requirements.

unCUT: bridging the gap from paper diary cards towards mobile electronic monitoring solutions in borderline and self-injury

This publication describes the analysis and development of an application for Borderline Personality Disorder patients, which was conducted with the assistance of 18 psychological experts from three different countries and resulted in a functional prototype containing those requirements. Nonsuicidal self-injury means deliberately harming ones own body tissue without suicidal intent and is associated with Borderline Personality Disorder. The research objective was to identify basic requirements to help those people with the support of a mobile device. Due to the lack of available mobile applications to support both patients and therapists, the novel prototype unCUT was developed and evaluated with those psychological experts throughout different iterations which ended up in 14 identified basic requirements for such an application.

MyDailyRoutine - a serious game to support people suffering from a cerebral dysfunction

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) turn your life upside down. Alone over 700 citizens experienced severe traumata accompanied with neurological deficits during the Roman-Gaulish confrontations in the Asterix illustrated series. While recovery did not last long in the comic books, real-life traumatic brain injuries pose long-lasting disabilities to patients. Ones daily routine is no longer routine, but rather a series of complex tasks which need to be performed in the correct order. Besides experiencing motor deficits and partial loss of executive functioning, activities of daily life become challenging. Hence, brain injury patients have to endure long-lasting, often strenuous rehabilitative sessions. Their brains need to be re-wired, and patients have to be re-enabled to self-reliantly perform activities of daily living. The goal is to come back to a point of prior healthy functioning. This paper introduces a novel technology-enhanced rehabilitation approach with a specific focus on cognitive abilities. The act of autonomously making a cup of coffee serves as an example for a new proposed serious game. Feedback of therapists who actively participated in this research suggests great benefits and high potential for the proposed serious game.

Visual Health Reminder: A Reminder for Medication Intake and Measuring Blood Pressure to Support Elderly People

Together with elderly people, a system for the notification of medication intake and measuring the blood pressure has been developed. This system consists of a hardware part, displaying different visual signals to remind users, and a software part to configure the hardware accordingly. Those visual signals are displayed with the help of a lamp, which can be placed in the living room or at any other desired place. The colors of those signals can be adapted with the help of an application, where the time and medication can be configured to be displayed. The developed software was created following a user centered design process together with four elderly people to get to know their needs and to identify the key requirements for such a system.

Design Criteria for Large eHealth Infrastructure System

We live in a time where ubiquitous access to information is part of our daily lives. Most of us use the Internet for sending or receiving information every day. We store data about our daily lives and thanks to social networks, we are able to stay in contact with other people even easier than before. Interestingly one of the most important aspects in our private lives has not yet made the jump into the digital world: our health. While every doctor’s office, hospital and insurer keeps a specific set of information about the progress of their patients’ health, the patient itself rarely has the possibility to either read or contribute this set of information. In addition these piles of health information are completely disjoint. This means, that whenever a patient visits a physician, this patient himor herself has to update the doctor about all the medical events that have happened since the last visit. For the patient, this is not necessarily an easy task. Not only is it very difficult for the average the patient to remember what happened when, but it is also very difficult for a layman to articulate these facts correctly. This is where eHealth comes into play. EHealth infrastructures, when done properly, can help to aggregate data, provide the right information to the right people and most importantly give control about health related information back to the patient. EHealth itself is not a technology per se, but a collection of tools and technologies, which combine healthcare topics with computer technologies. These tools include telemedicine, electronic health records, electronic medical records, computer aided diagnosis, hospital information systems and many more. When talking about large health infrastructures, usually regional, national or international eHealth networks and systems are meant (Eysenbach, 2001). The most common goals of large eHealth projects include a personal health record (PHR), confirmation of a patient’s insurance status and electronic medication. Electronic medication in particular has the potential to positively affect daily health care. Not only does eMedication reduce paper work for health care providers (HCP), pharmacies and insurers, but also allows a streamlined process for preventing accidental prescription of medications with a negative cross interaction. Planning eHealth strategies for healthcare providers or a nationwide healthcare system is one of the most critical aspects when starting programs or initiatives for eHealth and