Áit Eile - an online environment for children in hospital
Communicating with others is something most of us take for granted. Imagine a world where you could not communicate with the outside world, where you were confined to a room with limited access to the familiar people and places that can help strengthen your psychological well being. This is the case for many children and young people who suffer from a serious or chronic illness in today’s world. Addressing their specific needs has been at the core of some of the research work currently being carried out at the Centre for Health Informatics, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in collaboration with the Children’s Research Centre, TCD and Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Dublin.
The culmination of our research has resulted in the development of an interactive portal called Áit Eile (Another World) www.aiteile.ie and also the latest research is a new initiative called Solas www.solas.ie. Áit Eile is based in the hospital schools and currently links fourteen hospitals throughout Ireland. Solas similar to Áit Eile, facilitates communications through videolink, email, live chat and sms texting (as mobile phones are prohibited in the hospital) and also provides for creativity, the children can compose music, create pieces of art, play games and they even have their own blog space. In the case of Solas we are dealing with more chronically ill children who are undergoing severe treatment regimes and whose condition necessitates them to be in protective isolation for long periods at a time. They are restricted in their access to visitors from family and friends, and can often suffer as a consequence. Based on comprehensive analysis of needs of this particular target group a more focused and customized system has been developed.
The use of multimedia technologies to support children and adolescents in hospital offer potential for helping children to cope with some of these challenges, through communication (sharing of experiences), entertainment and educational resources which distract the children from their condition. Many of the traditional support services related to children in hospital primarily target parents, offering them support and information. Very few directly address the needs of the children through equivalent communities or groups. Áit Eile addresses this gap in service provision and the specific needs of some of these children focusing on the Challenges and Impact of Illness from a physical, psychological, intellectual and social aspect. In May 2004 the success of Áit Eile was recognised at European level when the project received a prize at the eEurope awards for eHealth.
This talk will present the research approach and the issues relating to providing such services for children in hospital. A full demonstration of Áit Eile along with a look at the latest initiative called Solas will be presented.