Allocations call Serious games
On Monday 21 January, state secretary Mona Keijzer handed out nine certificates to entrepreneurs that had submitted a project for the call ‘Serious games: better functioning through better choices’. In addition to the certificate, the entrepreneurs receive a budget to assess the feasibility of their idea.
The serious games to be developed need to help people decide on physical, mental and/or social choices. It is about tools that patients can use in their daily lives at home, in the neighborhood, at school, at work or during hobbies. People that have one or more illnesses or conditions are faced – consciously or consciously – with different choices that they have to make because of their condition all day long. These choices change based on the day and on the situation, dependent on personal and environmental factors. They often take these decisions themselves or with the help of carers or healthcare providers.
The following projects have been selected:
Check, Challenge, Change!
Check, Challenge, Change! Is a game that challenges people on a daily basis and helps them work on their lifestyle. It is meant for the cardiometabolic (CMB) risk group: people with a high risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes 2 and kidney diseases.
Applicant: &ranj
Energize!: overcoming fatigue
Fatigue is one of the most invalidating complaints for chronically ill people. Because of this lack of energy, many chronically ill people drop activities that are important to them such as (part-time) work, exercise, visiting family and friends or other daily tasks. In general, this (extreme) fatigue cannot be fixed, but there are ways to strongly improve the situation by better adjusting the activities to their energy level, and by initiating activities that lead to less fatigue, like healthier food and more exercise. Through Energize! the player regains control their own lives instead of letting fatigue take the reins.
Applicant: Healthcoin
Vigor! An intervention for obese young people
95 percent of children that are obese have a lifestyle problem. It shouldn’t be fixed in a hospital, but we need to look at their living environment. Close to their families, with good cooperation and coordination between local professionals. The so-called chain approach. GGD Hart voor Brabant, the municipality of ’s-Hertogenbosch (JOGGgemeente) and the Obesity Lifestyle Intervention Centre (OLIC) of the Jeroen Bosch Hospital (JBZ) used this vision to conduct a pilot in ‘s-Hertogenbosch-Noord: Testing Ground Obesity Den Bosch. This successful project was extended to a ‘Testing Ground Chain Approach Obesity in Children’. This has given ’s-Hertogenbosch the role of supplier of ‘best practices’ for the rest of the Netherlands.
Applicant: IJsfontein
Merino
Merino is based on the personal experiences of the applicant with the curative treatment of breast cancer. During the treatment and recovery period, she experienced how difficult it is to really include friends and family. This has consequences for the practical and emotional support they can give, which is essential to adjust to the disease. In her contacts with healthcare providers and peers, she discovered that other patients also want friends, family and co-workers to play a more active role, but that this proves more difficult in practice. Merino plays into that.
Applicant: ConnectedCare Services
MyFoodCoach
Healthy food is important to prevent diseases and improve recovery in old people. Recent research has shown that the food intake of the elderly that still live at home is often insufficient. Malnutrition occurs in nursing homes for 10 to 15% of the residents, and for home care it’s even as high as 15 to 30%. In addition to the direct impact on energy and vitality, and physical resistance against infection, flu and cold, the elderly also have a higher risk of complications due to malnutrition. Dizziness and loss of strength can lead to a heightened risk of falling and broken bones. After hospitalization, a malnourished elder probably won’t make a full recovery and the recovery will not happen as quickly. Eventually malnutrition increases the chance of untimely death. This means malnutrition doesn’t just have an effect on their personal quality of life but is also a big source of worry for family and carers, and a substantial cost item for professional care.
Applicant: ConnectedCare Services
Health for youth, it’s a serious game
Helping youth take charge. Young people want to have an influence on their lives and participate in society. For about 10% of young people, that proves difficult. They feel obstructed by multiple issues. The project is focused on developing a serious game that is attractive for these and other young people and can help them take control and make their own choices. So they can get a grip on their lives and feel happier and healthier.
Applicant: Bettery
School for Ninja
Incidental complaints of stress can become structural. A large portion of absence from work is caused by stress (emotional exhaustion or burn out). The root cause of the stress complaints is somewhere on the intersection between the individual and the environment. Psychology teaches us that symptoms arise when someone has to adjust to something that threatens to go above his or her ability to adapt. (Hoogendijk and de Rek, 2017). Especially people with one or more illnesses or conditions, that cannot participate in our system for 100% most of the time, really end up in a vicious circle of stress. When it comes to participation in society, stress is an overarching problem for people with diverse pathologies.
Applicant: Sandbxr
In Transit
In Transit is a mobile game that promotes behavioral activation for people with depression. The game offers support in daily life. It breaks the cycle of depression by focusing on activities that relive your depression. It gives people back control and helps them (and their environment) to regain control over their lives in small steps and to participate in society again.
For more information about the granted projects, check the RVO website.