Two researchers at the University of California, Irvine’s Center on Stress and Health www.centeronstressandhealth.hs.uci.edu have received $6.3 million in grants from NIH https://www.nih.gov to develop and test digital interventions for stress and pain in children facing surgical procedures and/or children battling cancer.
Dr. Michelle Fortier, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care and Co-Director of the UCI Center on Stress and Health, was awarded $3.2 million from NIH over five years to examine the effectiveness of a web-based pain and symptom management tool developed for children receiving primarily outpatient cancer treatment. She secured the initial funding in 2015 to develop the electronic intervention called “Pain Buddy” from the American Cancer Society.
“Pain buddy” is a web-based program that allows children to report pain at home as they have the pain. It also arms kids with things they can do to give them more of a sense of control over symptoms and pain.
The program works on any desktop or laptop computer connected to the internet. A walking talking Panda avatar helps children navigate and complete the diary each day. Kids earn digital coins for each pain diary they complete, which can be used to unlock additional avatars or fun accessories like hats or glasses.
The daily diary information is sent to a server at the clinic where the child’s healthcare provider is able to access the information at any time. If a child reports pain or symptoms that suggest that the child needs more help, the system will deliver real-time alerts to the healthcare team.
Dr. Zeey Kain Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, at the UCI Center, recently received $3.1 million over five years from NIH to enable the team to help children undergoing outpatient surgery and also help their parents manage their child’s post-surgical pain. This is needed since 60 percent of the five million children undergoing surgery suffer from unnecessary pain after the surgery.
The research team will develop a mobile-based system personalized for children undergoing outpatient surgery to help their families alleviate anxiety and pain. The system will take into account medical and psychological factors involving surgical procedures and examine how the parents are coping and caring for the patient.