DiaLudus: Developing a Gamified Mobile App for Pediatric Diabetes Education

Abstract

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease that causes significant challenges for the patient and their parents, affecting them physically and mentally. Approximately 450 children are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in Norway yearly, necessitating lifelong self-management of their blood glucose levels. Early knowledge acquisition is crucial to improving the patient's prognosis and self-management skills. This project aims to explore the potential of an educational gamified mobile application as a valuable tool for increasing knowledge in patients early on in their diagnosis.

To gather the information necessary to design this application, we performed a systematic literature review, an interview with a medical doctor, and a discussion with a designer who is also the parent of a child with type 1 diabetes. This information was then used to create model mock-ups, which were used to create the proof-of-concept prototype: a cross-platform mobile application consisting of multiple mini-games aimed to educate children on type 1 diabetes while increasing motivation through rewards. The app was developed using the Unity game engine, along with iterative development and internal testing throughout the development stage by fellow students and members of the author's research group.

Assessment of medical accuracy in the app was performed by two medical doctors, knowledge transfer assessment was performed by students with self-reported low understanding of diabetes, and quantitative usability testing was performed by children aged 9-12 with type 1 diabetes. While the evaluation showed potential areas of improvement, it also showed that the application prototype is medically accurate, entertaining, and effective at teaching the knowledge it contains.

We have created an educational gamified mobile application designed to educate newly diagnosed children with type 1 diabetes in an exciting and entertaining manner. Evaluation of the prototype shows great promise for using gamified educational applications as a knowledge-increasing tool in treating pediatric diabetes patients.