This graduation project aims to contribute to an emotionally-safe, i.e. comfortable and trauma-free, hospitalization experience for children. Hospitalization can be emotionally threatening and traumatizing for children. Children have to undergo multiple medical examinations, in a setting that is unfamiliar to them. Resilience is needed to cope with the challenges that come with the hospitalization. A positive emotional state can help children manage fear, stress and anxiety. In this graduation project, the narrative interactive game-play intervention Hideaway was created to foster resilience and empower children during their short (3-7 days) stay in the hospital, building on the previously developed Hospital Hero app©.

In order to create a valuable design intervention, an iterative research and design process was followed. A literature study and a context mapping study were performed to gain insight into the emotional experience of children (4 to 14 years old) and contributory contextual factors. Data was collected using observations, conversations with (former) patients, parents and healthcare professionals, and interviews with experts specialized in psychological impact of hospitalization in children. Using activity booklets, hospitalized children were asked about their social contacts, emotions and desires. Make-and-say sessions with children and co-creation sessions with children were held to further determine the core intervention strategy.

From the research, multiple challenges that negatively influence children’s mental state were identified: accumulation of medical procedures, unfamiliar daily routine/environment, not being able to play. This is strengthened by lack of peer-interactions and restricted mobility (i.e. contact isolation, being bedbound). To help children cope with these challenges, an interactive storytelling-based game was designed, integrating peer-contact, social play and child-friendly coping tips. Hideaway invites children to work together in a collaborative digital game of ‘hide-and-seek’, thereby creating connection between peers in and outside the hospital, letting children explore and escape the hospital room, and empowering children.

A prototype of Hideaway was evaluated with children and healthcare professionals, showing a promising potential to evoke a positive emotional state in children and with that fostering resilience and empowerment. Research and design recommendations have been made to provide a bridge to future implementation of Hideaway.

The eHealth solution Hideaway facilitates playful peer-interactions and has the potential to stand in for missed daily peer-interplay. Hideaway provides a valuable addition to the Hospital Hero app©, expanding outpatient care support with hospitalization support, and could be applicable to other settings (e.g. pediatric rehabilitation).