Three Themes for Designing Games That Aim to Promote a Positive Body Perception in Hospitalized Children

Abstract

Hospitalized children often experience physical changes that negatively affect their bodily perceptions, thereby adding to the stress of being sick. Existing approaches to supporting hospitalized children such as those promoted by the Clown Doctors use play to distract the child from negative bodily perceptions. In contrast, we propose reframing the bodily perception of these children through bodily virtual play facilitated by their imagination. We explore this design space through an analysis of the literature combined with design explorations around play and bodily imagination. This research results in a set of themes for games that aim to reframe bodily perception to a more positive self-image full of creative potential. We envisage that our work could help designers who aim to create digital play for sick children.