The Art of Waiting: Evaluation of an Interactive Media Experience in a Children's Hospital Clinic Waiting Space

Overview

The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that providing low-intensity opportunities for interactive play can improve the waiting and overall clinic experiences of children. This study evaluates an innovative, interactive system called ScreenPlay designed to realize the intentions of the "Healing Environment" in the waiting space of a paediatric hospital.

Existing entertainment and distraction options (e.g. toys, video games) meet neither organizational standards nor families' needs with respect to accessibility and infection control. Additionally, they do not provide the types of positive experiences (e.g. calm, low intensity) that are most desirable for children awaiting treatment. The goal of this research is to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of ScreenPlay, a technology that enables users to create or manipulate animations on a screen/projection, and to provide an evidence-informed model for the design of optimal paediatric waiting spaces. A blinded, clustered, parallel randomized controlled trial applying objective outcome measures and qualitative methods will be used to compare children allocated to one of three waiting conditions at a large urban rehabilitation hospital: (a) no media (standard care), (b) passive media (a silent nature video), or (c) interactive media (ScreenPlay). This study will answer the questions: Can Interactive Media (i.e. ScreenPlay): 1. reduce state anxiety in children/youth attending an outpatient clinic? and, 2. improve child, parent, and staff satisfaction with the clinic experience? We hypothesize that: 1. Decreases in state anxiety will be greater for children exposed to ScreenPlay for 10 minutes than for those exposed to passive (i.e. a nature video) or no media (i.e. standard care/control). The decrease in state anxiety associated with ScreenPlay will be \>5 points on the normalized 100 point State Anxiety Scale. 2. ScreenPlay will generate more movement/activity on the floor (i.e. an indicator of active engagement with the system) than the passive media or control conditions as measured via contact floor sensors. 3. The waiting and overall clinic experience of children with diverse mobility, parents, and staff will be perceived more positively when exposed to ScreenPlay as compared to passive media or control conditions.

Conditions

Interventions

Eligibility

Locations (1)

Outcomes