The TRUST Project: Immersive Play for Children in Hospitals and Rehabilitation

In recent years, children’s hospitals worldwide have investigated using aspects of video games and other media tools available to young patients to address such problems as isolation, stress management, and rehabilitation. There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that these communities, despite being limited to text interfaces, can improve pain scores and may improve depressive symptoms, reduce anxiety, and raise self-esteem. The objectives of the TRUST Project is to develop game-based interactive play in order to aid in children rehabilitation and ease the stresses associated with hospital scenarios. The play environment is designed to be inclusive, i.e. not solely for able-bodied and able-minded people. The virtual environments and game scenarios have been tailored to an audience of 8 to 13 year old children with varying degrees of abilities.

Citation:
Duffy, B. et al. (2005) "The TRUST Project: Immersive Play for Children in Hospitals and Rehabilitation", 4th IEEE Chapter Conference on Applied Cybernetics 2005 September 7-8, 2005, City University, London, United Kingdom.