Gaming Technology to Engage Adolescent Sickle Cell Patients in Pain Management

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common inherited blood disorder in the U.S. and disproportionately affects African Americans and Hispanics. Approximately, 1,000 U.S. children are born with SCD annually. SCD results from abnormal hemoglobin and causes red blood cells (RBCs) to become misshaped ("sickle-shaped"). Sickled cells can block the flow of blood in small arteries causing tissue and organ damage and other life-threatening comorbidities. SCD complications can be serious and have a significant impact upon well-being and quality of life. Pain is the hallmark symptom associated with SCD, and is the most common clinical problem seen in children and the number one cause of SCD-related hospital admissions. If left untreated, these painful episodes can result in morbidity and mortality. Accurate assessment of pain specifiers (type, frequency, and intensity of pain) can help with ameliorating pain quickly and effectively. Despite children being accurate self-reporters of their pain, strategies which are effective and engaging to assist with pain identification are lacking. Reducing barriers to collection and promoting the value of accurate SCD pain assessment is a need in pediatric medicine. Pinpoint will be an innovative interactive assessment tool that engages patients while allowing physicians to collect important health data. This project will test the feasibility of applying gamification principles to develop a tablet application ("app") for 13-17 year olds with SCD. Specifically, this Phase I SBIR project will (1) develop a Pain Assessment Tool (PAT) to describe and categorize specific types of pain experienced by adolescents with SCD; and (2) create an app ("Pinpoint"), that will translate the PAT into gamified technology. The goal of Pinpoint is to engage adolescent patients and improve pain specification by developing a game-based pain assessment tool delivered via a tablet app to engage adolescent SCD patients, improve their pain specification self-report, and improve pain management by clinicians. The PAT will be developed using expert guidance from preeminent SCD clinicians. User-centered Design theory will be applied in the development of the app and will be guided by iterative cognitive interviews and focus groups with members of the target population, SCD teens. The project specific aims are to (1) develop the PAT using guidance from an Expert Advisory Board (EAB) of SCD clinicians; (2) conduct a series of cognitive interviews with adolescent SCD patients to guide and refine PAT development; (3) conduct iterative focus groups with adolescent SCD patients to guide and refine user interface design of the Pinpoint app; (4) program a functional Pinpoint prototype; and (5) conduct usability testing of the prototype with 13-17 year old SCD patients to assess functionality, navigation, and satisfaction. This project is innovative and timely. Pinpoint will be the first tablet app to identify and translate specific pain types for SCD into a gamified app using applied gamification principles.