Effects of the Re-Mission video game on fatigue and quality of life of adolescents with cancer

The study was aimed at randomized controlled manner investigating the effects of the Re-Mission video game developed to increase disease knowledge levels of adolescents with cancer and to accelerate their compliance with treatment on their fatigue and quality of life. The sample of the study consisted of adolescents and parents who received cancer treatment in Ege University Children's Hospital Hematology Department between February 2017 and February 2019 and accepted to participate in the study. Among the adolescents included in the study, 23 adolescent control groups who receiving cancer treatment in hematology clinic and 23 adolescents who receiving cancer treatment process in clinic and playing Re-Mission video game formed the study group. Data were collected using the "Personal and Parental Sociodemographic Characteristics Questionnaire", "Scale for the Assessment of Fatigue in Pediatric Oncology Patients Aged 13-18 (Child and Parent Form)" and Function Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - General (FACT-G version 4)]". At the end of the study, the adolescents in the study group were asked to complete the "Re-Mission Video Game Rating Scale". The study data were analyzed using the SPSS 22.0. Adolescents in the study and control groups were found to be similar in terms of socio-demographic and disease-related characteristics (p>0,05). There was a significant difference between the adolescents in the study group and the adolescents in the control group at the beginning (p=, 003), one month (p=,000) and three months after(p=,000) the fatigue scale total score averages. At the beginning of the study, it was found that there was no significant difference between the FACT-G quality of life scale scores of the two groups(p=,727) and there was a significant difference between the mean scores of quality of life of the two groups after one and three months (p=,000). When the fatigue levels of the adolescents were evaluated by the parents of the adolescents, there was no difference between the mean scores of fatigue scale in the first month of the parents of the adolescents in the study group and the parents of the adolescents in the control group (p =, 895), at the beginning (p=,013) and at the third month (p =,000) there was a significant difference between the mean scores of fatigue scale of the two groups. At the end of the study, it was determined that adolescents in the study group strongly recommended Re-Mission video game to other cancer adolescents (82.6%), they believed that the game was not harmful (78.3%) and they absolutely liked playing the game (52.2%). As a result of the study, Re-Mission video game was found to be effective in decreasing fatigue levels of adolescents diagnosed with cancer and contributing positively to their quality of life. It has been suggested to extend the use of Re-Mission video game in clinics and to add Turkish voice-over and subtitles.