LOTUS LANDSCAPE
PROBLEM SPACE
Administering pediatric injections can be very challenging as children are often highly reluctant to receive them. This is usually due to fear and the anticipation of pain stemming from the sight of the sharp needle.
TIMELINE
2 Weeks
February 2020
TEAM
This was a solo project.
KEY GOAL
Investigate how VR can distract children while they receive injections.
RESEARCH
INVESTIGATING THE PROBLEM SPACE
Information was gathered from research into existing VR experiences designed for pediatric injections and a Q and A session with a pediatric oncology patient. The patient gave insight into their experiences with chemotherapy port injections, as well as their observations of other pediatric patients receiving more traditional injections.
Long Process
for chemotherapy port injections in particular: 3-4 minutes long, including cleaning the area, letting it dry, and dressing it afterward
Painful
especially for chemotherapy patients as the injection is administered with a cluster of needles; the pain is exaggerated if the person doing it misses on the first go
Anticipation
of the pain can often make the experience worse, so designing an experience that fully detaches the player from reality would be effective
PROTO-PERSONA AND EMPATHY MAP
Based on the data I collected from the survey, I generated a proto-persona in order to focus my thinking and design with a more targeted approach.
Proto-Persona: Katie
KATIE McGRATH is an 8-year-old pediatric oncology patient. She needs to get a chemo port inserted but is very nervous. she has historically had issues with tolerating needles and will start crying whenever she sees one. This port insertion procedure is unavoidable and her parents are desperate to find a solution.
DESIGN
OVERVIEW
I began the ideation process synthesizing all of my research data and generating a design hypothesis AND sketches before moving into implementation. The main takeaways from the research that I focused on were escapism and creating an overtly joyful environment, while minimizing the amount of interactivity so that the patient is not difficult to keep still.
PROJECT GOALS
Below is a summary of my original project goals and considerations.
PIVOT AND FINAL PRODUCT
After I began building implementing my initial garden scene idea, I decided to alter the concept, as I felt that the affordances of the hilly garden terrain invited the user to want to walk around and catch the butterflies. This was problematic as I wanted to keep the user entertained, but also as stationary as possible so that the injection could be administered as smoothly as possible.
I decided to create a "lotus garden" instead, as I felt that the bold colors, along with calming music and a little bit of animation, would be enough to keep the user engaged, without them wanting to walk through the landscape. To make the experience more immersive, I also animated the camera, so that the user would fly through the scene and view it from different angles.
Eliminate Anticipation
as this appears to cause more discomfort than the actual pain of the needle. Taking the patient away from the clinical situation entirely, should greatly reduce agitation.
Reduce Movement
by creating an engaging, yet passive experience so that the patient is still enough to allow for a quick and smooth process.
Avoid Learning Curve
of learning how to use controllers, and issues caused by the weight of the controllers for young children by not requiring user input.
PRODUCT PROPOSAL
My proposal is to make a field scene, with hills in the background. The ground will have a grass texture and flowers, and there will be butterflies flying around, which users are likely to reach out and grab, but without the complication of having to “catch” them with controllers. There will also be a blue skybox and calming music in the background.
FINAL DELIVERABLE
FINAL BUILD
Below is a walkthrough of the final build, which was created in Unity. The scene was largely built from prefabricated assets, which I then arranged, edited, re-colored, and animated myself. The background music was extracted from this YouTube video.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
REFLECTION
During this project, I learned how to use Unity and how to develop an effective user experience in the context of virtual reality.
I also gained more experience in primary user research and deepened my understanding of pediatrics, oncology, and immunizations.