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Video Game Helps Cancer Patients Combat Their Illness
August 07, 2008 06:04 AM
by
Josh Katz
A study revealing that a video game could help cancer patients follow their prescribed course of medication highlights alternative and beneficial uses of video games.
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A study led by Dr. Pamela M. Kato of the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands indicated that young cancer patients who played the video game "Re-Mission" for a certain amount of time adhered to their cancer medications more closely than those who played the video game "Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb."
In Re-Mission, players try to destroy cancer cells and stay healthy. "According to Kato, the game worked because it gave the patients a new way of looking at their illness; for example, thinking of chemo as a way to combat cancer, rather than as an annoyance that makes their hair fall out," Reuters reports.
East Carolina researcher Carmen Russoniello will conduct similar research this fall, as he “will hand sickle cell anemia patients video game controllers and see whether playing the games helps them control stress and reduce pain caused by their disease,” the Associated Press reports.
Researchers are also now using the game “Virtual Iraq” to treat soldiers returning from the war who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The game, meant to simulate the sights and senses of being a soldier in Iraq, is meant to be a safe way for soldiers to open up to therapists about their feelings. The Department of Defense has now dedicated $5 million to virtual therapy.
In a BBC piece, game consultant Margaret Robertson said, “it likely won’t be long before you find yourself coming home from the doctor’s with a prescription for a game rather than a course of pills."
In Re-Mission, players try to destroy cancer cells and stay healthy. "According to Kato, the game worked because it gave the patients a new way of looking at their illness; for example, thinking of chemo as a way to combat cancer, rather than as an annoyance that makes their hair fall out," Reuters reports.
East Carolina researcher Carmen Russoniello will conduct similar research this fall, as he “will hand sickle cell anemia patients video game controllers and see whether playing the games helps them control stress and reduce pain caused by their disease,” the Associated Press reports.
Researchers are also now using the game “Virtual Iraq” to treat soldiers returning from the war who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The game, meant to simulate the sights and senses of being a soldier in Iraq, is meant to be a safe way for soldiers to open up to therapists about their feelings. The Department of Defense has now dedicated $5 million to virtual therapy.
In a BBC piece, game consultant Margaret Robertson said, “it likely won’t be long before you find yourself coming home from the doctor’s with a prescription for a game rather than a course of pills."
Headline Link: ‘Video game helps young cancer patients take meds’
The study suggested that playing a video game could help those with cancer stick with their prescribed course of medications. According to Reuters, “Electronic pill monitoring showed a 16 percent rise in antibiotic adherence in the Re-Mission group, who took 62.3 percent of their total prescribed antibiotic medications, compared to 52.5 percent for the Indiana Jones group. Adherence to a standard chemotherapy drug was also higher in the Re-Mission group.”
Source: Reuters
Background: Video game therapy
Researcher Carmen Russoniello of East Carolina University will test the effects of playing video games on handling stress and diminishing pain. “Ten years ago, they would have laughed me out of that place,” Russoniello said. “But there’s an acceptance of things. [Video games] aren’t panaceas but they have their place and we need to find where that place is.”
Source: MSN Money (AP)
‘Virtual Iraq’ is a video game used to help soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in Iraq. The game is meant to elicit painful memories from the soldiers, but in a controlled setting permitting them to speak with therapists. “As concern over soldiers’ mental health has grown, virtual therapy has gotten more attention. The Department of Defense is spending about $5 million to fund research at six sites around the country, including Walter Reed and the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York,” according to the Baltimore Sun.
Source: Baltimore Sun
“Shelly has been dependent on alcohol since she was 16. Now 44, she has been undergoing a unique form of therapy for the past year. She is a patient at the Accelerated Recovery Centers, the first treatment program for the alcohol dependent and alcoholics that integrates the online world Second Life into the therapy concept.”
Source: Der Spiegel
Related Topic: Video games and violence
A recent study questions the theory that violent video games fuel violent behavior. “Violent crime, particularly among the young, has decreased dramatically since the early 1990s, while video games have steadily increased in popularity and use,” Patrick Kierkegaard, a doctoral student at the University of Essex in Britain, says.
Source: The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Opinion & Analysis: Video games: friend or foe?
An opinion piece in the Times of South Africa analyzes the violence that has characterized video games over the years, the backlash against them, and the research pointing to the benefits of video games. “But maybe … parents should reflect on their own roles in their kids’ lives, the state of the world—wars, presidents lying on TV, corruption, violence—and use their own power to make a difference.”
Source: The Times of South Africa
Game consultant Margaret Robertson confronts the many criticisms of video games, but insists that in the end, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. More video games are being produced to promote exercise, help people deal with stress, alleviate disorders, and train doctors, she says. “I’m confident that in the end, games will cure, not cripple, me.”
Source: The BBC
An opinion in Louisiana’s Daily Advertiser expresses dismay at a culture that has seemingly become desensitized to so many violent acts: “we must wonder if, for some people, repeated exposure to simulated violence results in tolerance—even enjoyment—of grotesque occurrences that are real.”
Source: The Daily Advertiser
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