Teaching Patients with Advanced Cancer to Self-Advocate: Development and Acceptability of the Strong Together™ Serious Game

Thomas, Teresa Hagan; McLaughlin, Mary Ann; Hayden, Margaret; Shumaker, Elizabeth; Trybus, Jessica; Myers, Eben; Zabiegalski, Anthony; Cohen, Susan M.

doi:10.1089/g4h.2018.0021

Cited by 14 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…The publication years of the included studies were from 2016 to 2022. Most of the studies were from the USA (n = 7) [22][23][24]28,29,31,32]. The re- Most of the selected articles are primary studies except for an extensive narrative review.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gamification as an Educational Approach for Oncological Patients: A Systematic Scoping Review

Poliani,

Gnecchi,

Villa

et al. 2023

Healthcare

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Background: Education plays a pivotal role in the care of oncological patients, reducing health costs, hospital readmission, and disease relapses. Education can be supportive in achieving multiple outcomes, improving symptom control and quality of life. A new approach is emerging in patient education: gamification. Gamification was defined as the “use of game elements in non-game contexts”, including the application of games in serious contexts. The aim of this review is to explore the use of gamification in the oncology setting. Methods: A systematic scoping review was conducted in the MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases using the JBI guidelines. Results: The 13 included reports were critically appraised by two reviewers independently. It seems that gamification could be effective both in prevention and cancer treatments. Gamification also seems to improve chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting management, quality of life, and reduced anxiety levels in different cancer groups. Moreover, gamification seems effective in improving self-care in cancer patients, regardless of gender, age, and ethnicity. Conclusions: Gamification improves patient engagement and biopsychosocial outcomes and could represent a valid approach to cancer patient education; however, it is not a substitute for healthcare professionals, who remain the leaders in the education process.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gamification as an Educational Approach for Oncological Patients: A Systematic Scoping Review

Poliani,

Gnecchi,

Villa

et al. 2023

Healthcare

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“…As participants opt for choices that reflect self-advocacy, the character discovers the positive consequences of self-advocacy behaviors or vice versa. Details of additional game features which reinforce self-advocacy behaviorally and learning objectives have been published elsewhere (Thomas et al, 2019).…”

Section: Game Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the game, the characters -who are women with advanced cancer -must respond to challenges in their care, and their decisions will decide whether their quality of life improves. The scenarios take place in patients' familiar places, homes, cancer clinics, or coffee shops, with their significant others, friends, doctors, nurses, or families (Thomas et al, 2019). Figure 1 provides a screenshot of the Strong Together intervention.…”

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confidence: 99%

Who Engages and Why It Matters?

You

Delaney

McKinley

et al. 2023

International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations

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While the use and benefits of serious games in health care are increasingly recognized, the impact of individuals' game engagement remains understudied, limiting the potential for impact. This pilot study aims to describe game engagement and its associations with learning outcomes, sociodemographics, and health factors in women with advanced cancer receiving a 12-week self-advocacy serious game intervention. Game engagement was collected from study tablets and weekly self-reported surveys. Participants' game engagement was overall high but with large amounts of variation and did not differ by their sociodemographics and health factors. Participants with lower baseline symptom severity were more likely to repeat game scenarios, and those who engaged in all scenarios had higher connected strength post-intervention. Knowing what prevents patients with advanced cancer from engaging in the serious game enlightens ways to refine the gamified interventions. Future research is suggested to evaluate patients' engagement to deepen understanding of its impacts on learning outcomes.

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“…This is particularly true for individuals who are newly diagnosed with cancer when treatment decisions are often complex, cancer- and treatment-related symptoms and have a huge impact on quality of life and managing social support can be challenging. Women with advanced cancers, including breast and gynecologic, experience a distressing number of symptoms interfering their well-being and ability to remain on treatment [ 15 , 16 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“I was never one of those people who just jumped right in for me”: patient perspectives on self-advocacy training for women with advanced cancer

Thomas

Murray

Rosenzweig

et al. 2023

Support Care Cancer

Self Cite

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Purpose Patients with advanced cancer experience many complicated situations that can make self-advocacy (defined as the ability speak up for yourself in the face of a challenge) difficult. Few self-advocacy interventions exist, and most are atheoretical with minimal patient engagement. The purpose of this study is to describe participant perspectives of a novel, self-advocacy serious game intervention called Strong Together . Methods This was a qualitative cross-sectional descriptive study among women receiving cancer care at an academic cancer center within 3 months of an advanced gynecologic or breast cancer diagnosis. Participants randomized to receive the intervention completed one-on-one semi-structured interviews 3-months post Strong Together and had the option to share voice journals about their experiences. Inductive qualitative approaches were used to descriptively analyze transcripts and voice journals. Descriptive content analysis approaches were used to group similar codes together into themes summarizing participants’ experiences engaging with the Strong Together intervention. Results Participants ( N = 40) reported that the Strong Together intervention was acceptable, noting that it was realistic and reflective of their personal experiences. Overarching themes included seeing myself in most scenarios and wanting more content; giving me the go ahead to expect more; offering ideas for how to stand up for myself; reinforcing what I am already doing; and reminding me of what I have. Participants suggested adding additional content including diverse characters. Conclusion This study demonstrated that women with advanced cancer were receptive to a self-advocacy skills-building intervention. Future research should explore the mechanisms linking serious games to learning and health outcomes. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00520-022-07531-3.

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Teaching Patients with Advanced Cancer to Self-Advocate: Development and Acceptability of the Strong Together™ Serious Game

Cited by 14 publications

References 38 publications

Gamification as an Educational Approach for Oncological Patients: A Systematic Scoping Review

Gamification as an Educational Approach for Oncological Patients: A Systematic Scoping Review

Who Engages and Why It Matters?

“I was never one of those people who just jumped right in for me”: patient perspectives on self-advocacy training for women with advanced cancer

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