Dr. Tot: A mobile application to reduce anxiety and trauma in pediatric settings

Abstract

<p>Children are at risk of psychological trauma, resulting in anxiety, anger or even aggression when they are put in an environment where they feel a lack of control. Healthcare settings are an example of such environments where children may be subjected to psychological trauma during their healthcare visits. The objective of this project is to understand the challenges for children with pediatric health issues for ages 3 to 6 in the United States and utilize that information to design a mobile application to address those challenges. This mobile application will include an Augmented Reality (AR) based aspect that can be used on a smartphone and a tablet by parents and children respectively. The design goals for the project are to educate children prior, during, and post pediatric healthcare visits and also enable their parents to curate their experience to best suit the child. This application will be designed to inform children about a healthcare setting and help them explore a pediatric center, engage them in tasks related to a healthcare visits while also entertaining them using relatable fictional characters that can play the role of friendly guides/instructors in an AR setting.</p>