Designing Interactive Hospital Environments for Children with Cancer and Their Families

Abstract

Each year, about 530 children aged 0 to 18 are diagnosed with cancer in the Netherlands. A child with cancer, and the family, have to deal with many stress factors after being diagnosed with cancer. During hospitalization and the process of trying to heal from cancer, each child will feel and behave in a different way and would want to cope in a different way. The physical environment can play a role in the way a person experiences the atmosphere in that environment. Therefore 'ROOMI' is designed to support the coping process of patients and family. ‘ROOMI’ is an interactive installation that is developed for children with cancer and their family, with the aim of supporting them cope with their emotions during their stay at the Prinses Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology. ‘ROOMI’ promotes constructive emotional processing by making it possible to express, externalize and find response to your emotions. Manipulating the pillow-like object creates light effects in real time, which creates different ambiances in the room. The installation is installed in patient rooms and consists of a pillow-like object and a lighting system of Leds. The pillow and LEDs are connected wireless to each other. The ‘ROOMI’ pillow consists of five smaller pillows, each representing an emotion. Each one of them has its own way of manipulating and creating a light effect. For each emotion ‘ROOMI’ has another goal and function to make coping possible.