My Hospital Buddy Ida

My Hospital Buddy Ida is a mobile AR-supported self-help program for pediatric cancer patients.

Children with cancer face numerous challenges during their treatment, and applications of CBT are proven to be effective in teaching psychosocial skills. Therefore, we aimed to combine both CBT and AR technology to develop a new approach to the unique psychological needs of children with cancer.

My Hospital Buddy Ida brings together a virtual AR character, Ida, a mobile application, and a CBT-based structured exercise workbook designed to deliver a psychotherapy program customized for the needs of children undergoing cancer treatment. The workbook consists of 12 chapters designed to be delivered by a psychotherapist. Each chapter is designed with a CBT-based approach and includes psychoeducational content (information regarding the diagnosis, hospital environment, and treatment process), exercises that teach CBT skills, and homework. Each chapter has one or two image triggers that trigger Ida's animation. Ida talks about her experiences with medical procedures and hospitals, as well as her emotions, in a way relevant to that chapter’s topic.

The project has been ongoing for 3+ years and went through a seed fund, a private institution's acceleration program, and now has funding from the Health Institutes of Türkiye. I had various job descriptions throughout the project, from coordinator to designer. However, my main tasks has been conducting semi-structured interviews with children and their caregivers, analyzing the data to arrive at points of improvement for both the virtual character, the app, and the booklet, designing the app experience and interface, overseeing the development process of the app, and visual design of the booklet.