Kid-Ney's Journey: A game to support treatment selection for people with chronic kidney failure

Abstract

The number of people suffering from chronic kidney failure is rising, due to the growing population of elderly, longer life-expectancy, and the increasing number of people with other lifestyle related diseases that affect the kidneys. People with severe chronic kidney failure are dependent on some form of kidney replacement treatment to survive. They are often eligible for several treatment methods and here the patient should be involved in the decision making, especially when the medical outcome is expected to be similar. This is important, as people are the experts on their life, values and believes and the different treatment methods each have unlike effects on daily life. However, knowledge is a barrier for these patients to actively take part in such discussions with their medical professional. This paper discusses a game-concept that is developed to give people more insight in the effects of a treatment on daily life, as well as helping them to evaluate the different treatment methods. The goal of this paper is to contribute to the development of additional patient information sources that focus on values and beliefs, and the effects of treatment on daily life, in order to empower patients in discussions with their medical professionals.