Ruby's Mission: Towards an Applied Gaming Intervention for reducing Loneliness of Children with Chronic Illness

Dionysis Alexandridis; Sander C.J. Bakkes; Sanne L. Nijhof; Elise Van De Putte; Remco C. Veltkamp

doi:10.1145/3472538.3472553

Ruby's Mission: Towards an Applied Gaming Intervention for reducing Loneliness of Children with Chronic Illness

Dionysis Alexandridis
, Sander C.J. Bakkes
, Sanne L. Nijhof
, Elise Van De Putte
, Remco C. Veltkamp

Utrecht University

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Children with a chronic disease, such as cystic fibrosis or juvenile arthritis, often face obstacles that can have a negative impact on children's physical, social-emotional and cognitive development, beyond the actual illness itself. Children with chronic conditions are, on average, lonelier than their peers without such conditions. Feelings of loneliness in children and adolescents have been associated with a wide range of negative outcomes, including school drop-out, depressive symptoms, social anxiety, suicide ideation, low self-esteem, eating disorders, and sleep problems. As such, the present investigation sets out to reduce these feelings of loneliness for children with chronic conditions, and aims to do so by the structured design of an applied gaming intervention. Specifically, the present paper contributes (1) a literature-based understanding on training socioemotional skills as a novel means to reduce feelings of loneliness in chronically ill children, (2) intervention objectives that are aligned to this goal, and (3) a structured proposal for design guidelines that implement the intervention objectives into gRuby's Mission'; an applied gaming intervention for reducing loneliness of children with chronic illness.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021
Editors	Allan Fowler, Johanna Pirker, Alesandro Alessandro Canossa, Ali Ali Arya, Casper Harteveld
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Number of pages	13
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450384223
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3472538.3472553
Publication status	Published - 3 Aug 2021
Event	16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021 - Virtual, Online, Canada Duration: 2 Aug 2021 → 6 Aug 2021

Publication series

Name	ACM International Conference Proceeding Series

Conference

Conference	16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021
Country/Territory	Canada
City	Virtual, Online
Period	2/08/21 → 6/08/21

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
we would like to thank Annelies Wisse and Theo van Wijk for their expertise on game design and for facilitating the game development.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 ACM.

Funding

we would like to thank Annelies Wisse and Theo van Wijk for their expertise on game design and for facilitating the game development.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

Applied gaming intervention
children
chronic illness
reducing loneliness
social competence
socioemotional skills

Access to Document

10.1145/3472538.3472553Licence: Unspecified

3472538.3472553Final published version, 4.71 MBLicence: Unspecified

Cite this

Alexandridis, D., Bakkes, S. C. J., Nijhof, S. L., Van De Putte, E., & Veltkamp, R. C. (2021). Ruby's Mission: Towards an Applied Gaming Intervention for reducing Loneliness of Children with Chronic Illness. In A. Fowler, J. Pirker, A. A. Canossa, A. A. Arya, & C. Harteveld (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021 Article 20 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3472538.3472553

Alexandridis, Dionysis ; Bakkes, Sander C.J. ; Nijhof, Sanne L. et al. / Ruby's Mission : Towards an Applied Gaming Intervention for reducing Loneliness of Children with Chronic Illness. Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021. editor / Allan Fowler ; Johanna Pirker ; Alesandro Alessandro Canossa ; Ali Ali Arya ; Casper Harteveld. Association for Computing Machinery, 2021. (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series).

@inproceedings{bf519b76e3874f319995c16581f18057,

title = "Ruby's Mission: Towards an Applied Gaming Intervention for reducing Loneliness of Children with Chronic Illness",

abstract = "Children with a chronic disease, such as cystic fibrosis or juvenile arthritis, often face obstacles that can have a negative impact on children's physical, social-emotional and cognitive development, beyond the actual illness itself. Children with chronic conditions are, on average, lonelier than their peers without such conditions. Feelings of loneliness in children and adolescents have been associated with a wide range of negative outcomes, including school drop-out, depressive symptoms, social anxiety, suicide ideation, low self-esteem, eating disorders, and sleep problems. As such, the present investigation sets out to reduce these feelings of loneliness for children with chronic conditions, and aims to do so by the structured design of an applied gaming intervention. Specifically, the present paper contributes (1) a literature-based understanding on training socioemotional skills as a novel means to reduce feelings of loneliness in chronically ill children, (2) intervention objectives that are aligned to this goal, and (3) a structured proposal for design guidelines that implement the intervention objectives into gRuby's Mission'; an applied gaming intervention for reducing loneliness of children with chronic illness. ",

keywords = "Applied gaming intervention, children, chronic illness, reducing loneliness, social competence, socioemotional skills",

author = "Dionysis Alexandridis and Bakkes, \{Sander C.J.\} and Nijhof, \{Sanne L.\} and \{Van De Putte\}, Elise and Veltkamp, \{Remco C.\}",

note = "Funding Information: we would like to thank Annelies Wisse and Theo van Wijk for their expertise on game design and for facilitating the game development. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 ACM.; 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021 ; Conference date: 02-08-2021 Through 06-08-2021",

year = "2021",

month = aug,

day = "3",

doi = "10.1145/3472538.3472553",

language = "English",

series = "ACM International Conference Proceeding Series",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

editor = "Allan Fowler and Johanna Pirker and Canossa, \{Alesandro Alessandro\} and Arya, \{Ali Ali\} and Casper Harteveld",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021",

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Alexandridis, D, Bakkes, SCJ, Nijhof, SL, Van De Putte, E & Veltkamp, RC 2021, Ruby's Mission: Towards an Applied Gaming Intervention for reducing Loneliness of Children with Chronic Illness. in A Fowler, J Pirker, AA Canossa, AA Arya & C Harteveld (eds), Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021., 20, ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, Association for Computing Machinery, 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021, Virtual, Online, Canada, 2/08/21. https://doi.org/10.1145/3472538.3472553

Ruby's Mission: Towards an Applied Gaming Intervention for reducing Loneliness of Children with Chronic Illness. / Alexandridis, Dionysis; Bakkes, Sander C.J.; Nijhof, Sanne L. et al.
Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021. ed. / Allan Fowler; Johanna Pirker; Alesandro Alessandro Canossa; Ali Ali Arya; Casper Harteveld. Association for Computing Machinery, 2021. 20 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Ruby's Mission

T2 - 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021

AU - Alexandridis, Dionysis

AU - Bakkes, Sander C.J.

AU - Nijhof, Sanne L.

AU - Van De Putte, Elise

AU - Veltkamp, Remco C.

PY - 2021/8/3

Y1 - 2021/8/3

N2 - Children with a chronic disease, such as cystic fibrosis or juvenile arthritis, often face obstacles that can have a negative impact on children's physical, social-emotional and cognitive development, beyond the actual illness itself. Children with chronic conditions are, on average, lonelier than their peers without such conditions. Feelings of loneliness in children and adolescents have been associated with a wide range of negative outcomes, including school drop-out, depressive symptoms, social anxiety, suicide ideation, low self-esteem, eating disorders, and sleep problems. As such, the present investigation sets out to reduce these feelings of loneliness for children with chronic conditions, and aims to do so by the structured design of an applied gaming intervention. Specifically, the present paper contributes (1) a literature-based understanding on training socioemotional skills as a novel means to reduce feelings of loneliness in chronically ill children, (2) intervention objectives that are aligned to this goal, and (3) a structured proposal for design guidelines that implement the intervention objectives into gRuby's Mission'; an applied gaming intervention for reducing loneliness of children with chronic illness.

AB - Children with a chronic disease, such as cystic fibrosis or juvenile arthritis, often face obstacles that can have a negative impact on children's physical, social-emotional and cognitive development, beyond the actual illness itself. Children with chronic conditions are, on average, lonelier than their peers without such conditions. Feelings of loneliness in children and adolescents have been associated with a wide range of negative outcomes, including school drop-out, depressive symptoms, social anxiety, suicide ideation, low self-esteem, eating disorders, and sleep problems. As such, the present investigation sets out to reduce these feelings of loneliness for children with chronic conditions, and aims to do so by the structured design of an applied gaming intervention. Specifically, the present paper contributes (1) a literature-based understanding on training socioemotional skills as a novel means to reduce feelings of loneliness in chronically ill children, (2) intervention objectives that are aligned to this goal, and (3) a structured proposal for design guidelines that implement the intervention objectives into gRuby's Mission'; an applied gaming intervention for reducing loneliness of children with chronic illness.

KW - Applied gaming intervention

KW - children

KW - chronic illness

KW - reducing loneliness

KW - social competence

KW - socioemotional skills

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DO - 10.1145/3472538.3472553

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85118256530

T3 - ACM International Conference Proceeding Series

BT - Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021

A2 - Fowler, Allan

A2 - Pirker, Johanna

A2 - Canossa, Alesandro Alessandro

A2 - Arya, Ali Ali

A2 - Harteveld, Casper

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

Y2 - 2 August 2021 through 6 August 2021

ER -

Alexandridis D, Bakkes SCJ, Nijhof SL, Van De Putte E, Veltkamp RC. Ruby's Mission: Towards an Applied Gaming Intervention for reducing Loneliness of Children with Chronic Illness. In Fowler A, Pirker J, Canossa AA, Arya AA, Harteveld C, editors, Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021. Association for Computing Machinery. 2021. 20. (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). doi: 10.1145/3472538.3472553

Ruby's Mission: Towards an Applied Gaming Intervention for reducing Loneliness of Children with Chronic Illness

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this