The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Today, digital interactive games and game technologies are going beyond entertainment to shape how we gain new skills and information. What does this mean for health and health care? Games are empowering people to manage chronic illness, pain and rehabilitation; in highly realistic virtual environments, health care providers are being trained in breakthrough techniques that can improve patient care, and; computer games are delivering health-promoting messages to kids and families across the country.
Though the field is still early in its development, recent applications of games to health and health care show tremendous promise:
-In May, Nintendo®'s new Wii Fit hits stores, expanding ways that its wireless console engages users in fitness play through aerobics, yoga, balance and other activities.
-Research has shown that players of HopeLab's Re-Mission video game—developed for teens and young adults with cancer—demonstrated higher levels of cancer-related knowledge and better adherence to treatment regimens. In 2007, CIGNA began offering Re-Mission free to any cancer patient who requested the game.
-University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have developed simulation games that train health and public safety officials to respond effectively to disasters and infectious disease outbreaks.