PROVIDENCE – Elizabeth McQuaid, a staff psychologist from the Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center, is leading the phase II trial of an interactive software game, which is designed to help children with food allergies more effectively manage their allergy symptoms and social situations and avoid foods to which they are allergic.
Phase II of the study will enroll 100 children; families will be asked to use the software for two weeks, either before or after an office visit with a study health care provider.
“Pediatric food allergy is a serious health issue that now affects approximately 4 to 8 percent of children. Yet, very few resources for children exist to promote effective management strategies,” McQuaid said in a statement. “Most resources targeting those with food allergies provide support through support groups or via the web, and typically focus on parents, with few resources designed for affected children.”
To address this need, McQuaid’s research team collaborated with Virtually Better Inc., a virtual reality and software development entity to create an interactive video game app, “Food Allergy Adventure.” Designed for children ages 8-12 with food allergies, the goal of the game is to increase children’s knowledge, improve their ability to manage the disease and ultimately reduce the risks of serious allergic reactions.
The first phase of the study was an open trial format, where children and families offered feedback on the game itself. Based on that feedback, the study team has now enhanced the game content and expanded its size three-fold. In the first part of this trial, the game was only targeted toward children with peanut allergies, but now the game can benefit children with tree nut, milk and egg allergies.
The randomized trial will compare the game’s efficacy versus standard education that a child might receive during an office visit with a physician or nurse practitioner. The research team can assess whether children learn more and feel more confident about managing their allergies by using the game.
“In the original game, each child progressed through virtual scenes structured to help them learn about food avoidance, symptom detection and reaction management,” said McQuaid, who is also a professor at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, departments of psychiatry and human behavior and pediatrics. “For example, a child might be offered a food item in the school cafeteria and need to negotiate pressure to accept ‘trigger’ foods. Now, based on the feedback from families about which social scenes would be most realistic to them, the second phase of the game offers, for example, a grandmother at a family party asking a child why he isn’t eating the cookies she baked or a child at an arcade having to choose safe foods from a food court menu.”
The game – compatible as an app for iPad and Android devices – also offers children a look inside a virtual food pantry to play a label-reading game to decide which foods are safe to eat. Interactive scenarios also explain how to handle being bullied about food allergies and games explain how to identify the symptoms of an allergic reaction.
“Based on the success of the first version of this game, the project has now expanded using the amazing feedback from the many kids and families who previously participated. The game also includes parent interaction components that provide feedback to parents,” Margo Adams Larsen, director of research at Virtually Better, Inc., said in a statement. “Kids were a part of the development of this new version from the ground up, including the voice actors. This really is a kid- built game targeting a significant health issue. Researchers and developers are excited to trial this next version to get more feedback to make bringing this product to final commercialization possible.”
For more information about the food allergy game clinical trial or to participate, contact Mike Farrow at (401) 444-8652 or mfarrow@lifespan.org.
