Cerebral Palsy (CP) describes a group of permanent disorders of the development of movement and posture, causing limitations in individual’s activities. Given the complexity of CP and its treatment, especially the impact of the lack of motivation in conventional rehabilitation programs, the use of serious games represents an interesting tool to encourage participation in the treatment. Serious games most often appear in the form of video games, and their primary purpose is not only entertainment. The design combines crucial elements of play with learning and therefore they can be used to foster health-related skills. Purpose: The aim of this diploma work was to present the psychological effects of the use of serious games in physiotherapy treatment of children with CP. Methods: The literature search took place until 16 July 2020 in the Google Scholar and PubMed databases. Selected key words were: cerebral palsy AND children OR adolescents AND video-games OR game-based intervention OR serious games OR virtual reality AND motivation OR attention OR self-image OR self-perception OR playfulness OR enjoyment OR participation OR compliance. Considering inclusion and exclusion criteria, eight studies were selected. Results: The results of the reviewed studies showed positive psychological effects of the use of serious games in physiotherapy of children with CP. The use of such games provides pleasure and fun for children, increases (internal) motivation, improves participation in treatment, perception of their own abilities and the implementation of the exercise program, and encourages the willingness to try new things. The chosen game should not be too demanding or too easy, otherwise it can cause frustration to the child. Discussion and conclusion: We established that high quality studies providing evidence for the effectiveness of serious games in physiotherapy treatment of children with CP are rather scarce. In addition, they mostly involve small numbers of participants, apply a variety of serious games and use diverse measures of their psychological effects, which limits the comparability and generalization of their findings. Nevertheless, existing studies suggest the usefulness of serious games in the physiotherapy of this group of children, at least in the terms of positive emotions and increased motivation, which are important factors of children’s participation and persistence in the therapy and thus its effectiveness. In particular, serious games, which are varied, challenge children’s abilities and skills, and contain elements of competition seem to be effective.
|
