Videogame for children with cancer developed in Porto wins an International award

A videogame for children suffering from cancer developed in Porto wins international prize of $50,000 (nearly 42 thousand Euros), in the context of an international competition that awards excellence in technologies for cancer patients.

Hope was born out of a partnership between the University of Porto and the Portuguese Oncology Institute (IPO) Francisco Gentil,Porto, and the Bright startup in the health communication area. This videogame was developed for tablets and smartphones and it allows to teach topics on cancer through tools that are usually associated to entertainment, with the aim of furthering understanding of the disease as well as the physical activities for children between six and ten years old.

The author is Hernâni Zão Oliveira, a PhD student in the field of Digital Media of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, and the investigator-in-charge of the project.

This videogame precludes the application by analogy of villains and heroes of children's stories: children fight cancer the same way super heroes fight the bad guys.

"HOPE tells the story of a child that walks a path with different levels, in several places - hospital, home, and school - and relies on allies to help her - family, doctor, nurses ", explains the researcher to the News Portal of Porto University.

"Hope also aims at combatting two existing problems regarding hospitalized children with oncologic diseases: anxiety and sedentary lifestyle", explains Hernâni Zão Oliveira, "and the technology used encourages "exergaming", which is the practice of physical exercise during a virtual game".

The research team also developed a mobile application that accompanies parents during the child's treatment.

The videogame is included in the Hope Project, honoured at the Astellas Oncology C3 Prize, an international completion promoted by Multinational Company Astellas Pharma, jointly with the investigator Robert Herjavec.

The final stage of this competition took place 15 November, in the framework of the World Cancer Leaders' Summit in México. More than 160 projects from 21 countries have participated in this initiative.

The Hope Project was finalist in "The Next Big Idea" contest and the "Creative Industries' National Award", and has supported the first Portuguese lab focused on health literacy, the LACLIS - Laboratório de Criação em Saúde, headquartered at the Media Innovation Labs, the UP's Centre of expertise for the media.