Background Serious games have been used as supportive therapy for traditional rehabilitation. However, most are designed without a systematic process to guide their development from the phases of requirement identification, planning, design, construction, and evaluation, which reflect the lack of adaptation of rehabilitation requirements and thus the patient’s needs. Objective The aim of this study was to propose a conceptual framework with standardized elements for the development of information systems by using a flexible and an adaptable process centered on the patient’s needs and focused on the creation of serious games for physical rehabilitation. Methods The conceptual framework is based on 3 fundamental concepts: (1) user-centered design, which is an iterative design process focused on users and their needs at each phase of the process, (2) generic structural activities of software engineering, which guides the independent development process regardless of the complexity or size of the problem, and (3) gamification elements, which allow the transformation of obstacles into positive and fun reinforcements, thereby encouraging patients in their rehabilitation process. Results We propose a conceptual framework to guide the development of serious games through a systematic process by using an iterative and incremental process applying the phases of context identification, user requirements, planning, design, construction of the interaction devices and video game, and evaluation. Conclusions This proposed framework will provide developers of serious games a systematic process with standardized elements for the development of flexible and adaptable software with a high level of patient commitment, which will effectively contribute to their rehabilitation process.

Background Serious games are a support in the rehabilitation process for treating people with physical disabilities. However, many of these serious games are not adapted to the patient’s needs because they are not developed with a software engineering framework with a set of activities, actions, and tasks that must be executed when creating a software product. Better serious games for rehabilitation will be developed if the patient and therapist requirements are identified, the development is planned, and system improvements and feedback are involved. The goal is that the serious game must offer a more attractive environment, while maintaining patient interest in the rehabilitation process. Objective This paper submits the results of a systematic review of serious games in physical rehabilitation identifying the benefits of using a software engineering framework. Methods A systematic research was conducted using PubMed, PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database), IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, ACM Digital Library, Mary Ann Liebert, Taylor & Francis Online, Wiley Online Library, and Springer databases. The initial search resulted in 701 papers. After assessing the results according to the inclusion criteria, 83 papers were selected for this study. Results From the 83 papers reviewed, 8 used a software engineering framework for its development. Most of them focused their efforts on 1 or more aspects, such as data acquisition and processing, game levels, motivation, therapist supervision. Conclusions This systematic review proves that most of the serious games do not use a software engineering framework for their development. As a result, development systems overlook several aspects and do not have a standardized process, eventually omitting important implementation aspects, which impact the patient’s recovery time.

Cada día se logran avances tecnológicos que buscan satisfacer las diversas necesidades de estar en continua conexión con la información y comunicaciones. Es por esta razón que aparecen las tecnologías móviles que han causado una gran revolución en diversos ámbitos de la vida cotidiana e interacción de la sociedad humana, la rama de la medicina no está exenta de ellos, se han desarrollado diversos sistemas de información que han apoyado a esta área y que son de gran ayuda para el personal médico. El presente artículo es una propuesta de un sistema para dispositivos móviles utilizando servicios Web, que permita al médico diagnosticar, almacenar y recuperar la información de los historiales clínicos de pacientes, así como apoyar al personal médico mediante notificaciones para la suministración de medicamentos.

BACKGROUND Serious games are a support in the rehabilitation process for treating people with physical disabilities. However, many of these serious games are not adapted to the patient’s needs because they are not developed with a software engineering framework with a set of activities, actions, and tasks that must be executed when creating a software product. Better serious games for rehabilitation will be developed if the patient and therapist requirements are identified, the development is planned, and system improvements and feedback are involved. The goal is that the serious game must offer a more attractive environment, while maintaining patient interest in the rehabilitation process. OBJECTIVE This paper submits the results of a systematic review of serious games in physical rehabilitation identifying the benefits of using a software engineering framework. METHODS A systematic research was conducted using PubMed, PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database), IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, ACM Digital Library, Mary Ann Liebert, Taylor & Francis Online, Wiley Online Library, and Springer databases. The initial search resulted in 701 papers. After assessing the results according to the inclusion criteria, 83 papers were selected for this study. RESULTS From the 83 papers reviewed, 8 used a software engineering framework for its development. Most of them focused their efforts on 1 or more aspects, such as data acquisition and processing, game levels, motivation, therapist supervision. CONCLUSIONS This systematic review proves that most of the serious games do not use a software engineering framework for their development. As a result, development systems overlook several aspects and do not have a standardized process, eventually omitting important implementation aspects, which impact the patient’s recovery time.

One of the main uses of the internet is e-commerce. Companies conducting business online across a broad range of consumer goods and services from books to travel are operating in an increasingly competitive environment. Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) are a new generation of internet applications. RIAs combine the advantages of desktops and Web applications. RIAs incorporate behavior and features of desktop applications such as animations, multimedia content and client-side computing. In Web applications, RIAs allow to the users to do interactive data exploration through visual attractive interfaces. RIAs solve disadvantages presented in traditional Web applications like continuous updating Web pages and processing overload on Web server. Therefore in a software development context, the RIAs have a great acceptance as solution in data-processing. RIAs can improve the experience of moving through an e-commerce application by removing extra navigation steps, reducing interface complexity, and presenting relevant, meaningful information to the user in the most appropriate visual format. Advances available with RIAs are enhancing the customer experience, driving revenue, and increasing customer loyalty. In this book chapter, the authors cover the reasons for incorporating RIAs in B2C e-commerce systems.