MARTIN-LUTHER-UNIVERSITÄT HALLE-WITTENBERG MEDIZINISCHE FAKULTÄT INSTITUT FÜR GESUNDHEITS- UND PFLEGEWISSENSCHAFT Nicole Lakowa (1) Patrick Jahn (1,3), Oliver Stoll (2), Dirk Vordermark (3), Margarete Landenberger (1) · (1) Institute for Health and Nursing Science, Medical Faculty, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg · (2) Department Sport Science, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg · (3) University Hospital Halle, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg InterACTIV – An exploratory study of the utilization of a game console to promote physical activation of adult cancer patients during hospitalization “Exercise, Energy Balance and Cancer” Conference 15th & 16th November 2010 - Heidelberg, Germany Introduction: The positive influence of physical exercise to improve patient-reported outcomes, i.e. symptoms, function or quality of life in cancer patients is well established (Knols, Aaronson, Uebelhart, Fransen & Aufdemkampe 2005; Schmitz et al., 2005). However, it remains challenging to motivate patients to adhere to physical exercise plans (Baumann, 2005). The aim of this study was to explore the use of Nintendo Wii® (Redmond, Washington) game console to motivate hospitalized adult cancer patients to apply physical activity during treatment periods. Methods: Within this exploratory study a mixed method approach including descriptive statistics and Mayring´s qualitative data evaluation method was applied. Adult cancer patients were included as a convenient sample (N=7). All patients received physical training for five days/30 minutes per day with Nintendo Wii®. After the last training session patients were interviewed using a semi structured guideline. All participants were inpatients at the Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Halle (Saale). Fig.1: study design Results: A total of seven participants were recruited (2 female, 5 male) (table 1). Eleven patients refused to participate in this trial. Reasons given were: weak health condition (n=4), the intervention did not meet expectations (n=1), difficulties handling the technical device (n=2), no specific reason (n=4). Compared with reference data from healthy German population (Schwarz & Hinz, 2001) the majority of our test persons showed moderate to large disparities, regarding global state of health and subscales (table 2). The majority of the patients preferred games with realistic movements and activity and with at least two persons interacting. Game settings with the computer as sole counterpart were declined (cf. table 3). Although participants reported good handling of the technical device some had problems with the game (software). In general, the use of an activating game console in a hospital environment has been evaluated positively. Fig.2 flow chart (I) “I feel a bit flabby, because I am not used to this kind of action”, “After some of the games I had to shower due to sweating. I realized I hadn’t had any physical activity for a long time” (II) “This feels just like a few minutes, I cannot say, how long we played. When I went back to my room, I wondered how much time had passed. Time was running very fast, while I played”. (III) “Much, much better. I was totally relaxed, less tense, everything turned normal” or “I felt coming back to normal, because I felt that I can handle these demands. This helped very much.”. (IV) “Yes, I thought, see little kid, see what an old man is still able to do” Participants showed a high degree of acceptance using this kind of physical activation. Due to the interactive game console the majority of individuals we encouraged to become physically active during hospitalization (I). Furthermore, all patients lost time awareness and felt distracted from hospital routine (II). A majority reported an improved mood state due to the game sessions (III). and positive self-awareness (IV). Discussion: Because of the small number of participants generalization of the outcome is limited. The results however should encourage further research. The study showed that the use of an activating game console can increase the motivation of cancer patients to be physically active while hospitalized. Furthermore by distracting from daily hospital routines coping might be facilitated. The acceptance of the game console might be influenced by age and routine in using a computer. Contact details: Patrick Jahn, MScN, RN Nicole Lakowa, Cand MScN Margarete Landenberger, Prof. Dr. phil habil Institute for Health and Nursing Science Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg Magdeburger Str. 8, 06097 Halle (Saale) – Germany +49-345-557-2220 patrick.jahn@medizin.uni-halle.de http://www.medizin.uni-halle.de/pflegewissenschaft/