The Art of Waiting: Evaluation of an Interactive Media Experience in a Children's Hospital Clinic Waiting Space

Existing entertainment and distraction options (e.g. toys, video games) meet neither organizational standards nor families' needs with respect to accessibility and infection control. Additionally, they do not provide the types of positive experiences (e.g. calm, low intensity) that are most desirable for children awaiting treatment.

The goal of this research is to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of ScreenPlay, a technology that enables users to create or manipulate animations on a screen/projection, and to provide an evidence-informed model for the design of optimal paediatric waiting spaces. A blinded, clustered, parallel randomized controlled trial applying objective outcome measures and qualitative methods will be used to compare children allocated to one of three waiting conditions at a large urban rehabilitation hospital: (a) no media (standard care), (b) passive media (a silent nature video), or (c) interactive media (ScreenPlay). This study will answer the questions:

Can Interactive Media (i.e. ScreenPlay):

1. reduce state anxiety in children/youth attending an outpatient clinic? and,
2. improve child, parent, and staff satisfaction with the clinic experience?

We hypothesize that: