Empowering children with ASD and their parents : design of a serious game for anxiety and stress reduction

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by social interaction difficulties and communication difficulties. Moreover, children with ASD often suffer from other co-morbidities, such as anxiety and depression. Finding appropriate treatment can be difficult as symptoms of ASD and co-morbidities often overlap. Due to these challenges, parents of children with ASD often suffer from higher levels of stress. This research aims to investigate the feasibility of empowering children with ASD and their parents through the use of a serious game to reduce stress and anxiety and a supporting parent application. The New Horizon game and the SpaceControl application were developed together with therapists and according to guidelines for e-health patient empowerment. The game incorporates two mini-games with relaxation techniques. The performance of the game was analyzed and usability studies with three families were conducted. Parents and children were asked to fill in the Spence's Children Anxiety Scale (SCAS) and Spence Children Anxiety Scale-Parents (SCAS-P) anxiety scale. The game shows potential for stress and anxiety reduction in children with ASD

a systematic review

Funding Information: This study is part of an interdisciplinary research project, funded by the Special Research Fund (Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds) of Ghent University.Introduction: Ontologies are a formal way to represent knowledge in a particular field and have the potential to transform the field of health promotion and digital interventions. However, few researchers in physical activity (PA) are familiar with ontologies, and the field can be difficult to navigate. This systematic review aims to (1) identify ontologies in the field of PA, (2) assess their content and (3) assess their quality. Methods: Databases were searched for ontologies on PA. Ontologies were included if they described PA or sedentary behavior, and were available in English language. We coded whether ontologies covered the user profile, activity, or context domain. For the assessment of quality, we used 12 criteria informed by the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontology (OBO) Foundry principles of good ontology practice. Results: Twenty-eight ontologies met the inclusion criteria. All ontologies covered PA, and 19 included information on the user profile. Context was covered by 17 ontologies (physical context, n = 12; temporal context, n = 14; social context: n = 5). Ontologies met an average of 4.3 out of 12 quality criteria. No ontology met all quality criteria. Discussion: This review did not identify a single comprehensive ontology of PA that allowed reuse. Nonetheless, several ontologies may serve as a good starting point for the promotion of PA. We provide several recommendations about the identification, evaluation, and adaptation of ontologies for their further development and use.publishersversionpublishe

Code essentiel – Droit international privé 2020

Le présent volume assemble les actes normatifs, ayant force obligatoire en Belgique, qui touchent au droit international privé, aussi bien le droit des conflits de lois que le droit judiciaire international. Il contient le code de droit international privé proprement dit, introduit par la loi du 16 juillet 2004, mais également de nombreux instruments internationaux et européens. Il inventorie aussi de nombreuses règles particulières insérées dans des actes qui n’affectent qu’accessoirement le droit international privé et complètent les règles générales. Ce recueil vise à offrir aux étudiants et aux professionnels du droit un accès aisé aux textes les plus usuels. En concentrant un matériau abondant et varié, il donne aussi plus de visibilité à un vaste ensemble de sources normatives. L’ouvrage comprend quatre parties, couvrant respectivement les actes liés à l’Union européenne, les instruments internationaux classiques, la législation belge, ainsi que certaines circulaires ministérielles

Code de droit international privé 2016

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Investigating the influence of personalised gamification on mobile survey user experience

Gamification in healthcare has shown to increase user motivation and treatment adherence. Personalisation strategies have the potential to create sustainable health change and user motivation. In striving for personalisation, surveys are often used as an easy tool to collect information about the user. But lengthy surveys are often tedious and demotivating, provoking bad respondent behaviour which results in a loss of data quality. Gamified surveys can enhance respondent behaviour but are labour-intensive to develop. This study explores the effect of a re-usable mobile survey application, using personalised gamification, on user experience. In an A/B study setting with 28 participants, The Hexad Player Type Framework is used to determine the player type of the user and personalise the survey accordingly. Results have shown that the overall user experience of the gamified application is higher than the traditional survey and 37.5% of gamified users perceived the duration of the survey as shorter than the actual time, compared to 20% of the respondents of the traditional survey. No significant difference in data quality has been detected, as loss in data quality remained limited in both versions. Future work should explore the influence of more elaborate game elements in a larger population