The Use of Gaming in Healthcare

Because of their attractive and engaging nature, games offer a potential method to be used for different purposes in healthcare. Health games are accessible and enable reaching the patients and clients without the restrictions of time and distance. Games have shown to increase knowledge and skills and support learning and communication. Games can also be tailored based on individual needs of the gamer. Thus, health games are potential not only for healthy people and people with different health conditions, but also for educational purposes among health students and healthcare professionals. In addition to benefits of games for healthcare, there are also challenges to consider when planning implementing game-based solutions in healthcare. Many of these challenges are issues that may be tackled through rigorous development and evaluation process. This chapter highlights recent research evidence on health games in healthcare; issues of challenges are also discussed. Finally, a user-centered approach for the development and evaluation of health games is represented.