Evaluating mobile games for diabetes education

Abstract

Mobile games can be effective, evidence-based, and motivating tools for the promotion of children's health. Traditional method for diabetic education relies heavily on written materials and there is only a limited amount of resources targeted at educating diabetic children. In our earlier work, we proposed a novel approach for designing computer games aimed for educating children with diabetes. In this paper, we apply our game design to a mobile Android game (Mario Brothers). We also introduce three heuristics that are specifically designed for evaluating the mobile game, by adapting traditional usability heuristics. The results of a preliminary evaluation study, conducted for a week, showed that the children found the game engaging and it helped enhanced their knowledge of healthy diet and lifestyle.