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Pain Buddy, a prototype PreviewLabs developed for Dr. Michelle Fortier, associate professor at the UC Irvine Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, was featured in the spring edition of UCI Magazine. Pain Buddy is a prototype that helps children with cancer to pinpoint the type of pain they are experiencing and to cope with that pain.
The prototype provides a playful experience in wich children interact with an avatar to fill out a standardized assesment inquiring about their pain. In doing so, they gain in-game credits which they can use to customize their avatar and play various mini-games with it. Meanwhile, doctors receive notifications when pain levels exceed certain thresholds.
The article explains why an application like Pain Buddy is relevant to children with cancer.
The article features an interview with Dr. Fortier, who approached PreviewLabs to develop a more advanced version of the Pain Buddy prototype after the initial pilot study, which used a prototype developed by students.
In the article, Dr. Fortier details on the difficulties children with cancer experience when dealing with pain. They can become reluctant to report their pain because they fear that means the cancer is getting worse, or that their parents would get worried.
You can read the full article on page eight of the magazine here.