effect of an educational video game for diabetes self-management on adherence to a self-care regimen in children with type 1 diabetes

Background: type 1 diabetes is known as the most common endocrine disorder in children which requires strict adherence to self-care regimen. accordingly, children’s exposure to educational video games can be a strategy for promoting adherence to such regimens. aim: the main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an educational video game for diabetes self-management on adherence to self-care regimens in children with type 1 diabetes.method: this two-group randomized clinical trial was conducted on 68 children aged 8-12 years affected with type 1 diabetes and admitted to akbar children’s hospital in mashhad, iran, during 2018. a self-care package for children with type 1 diabetes was extracted using a review method. the intervention group played the designed interactive video game. data were analyzed in spss software (version 16) through independent t-test and mann whitney u test.results: both study groups were homogeneous in terms of demographic characteristics. based on the results of independent t-test, no significant difference was observed between the intervention (77.5±10.1) and control groups (78.7±7.4) regarding mean self-care scores before intervention (p=0.57). however, mean self-care score in the intervention group (82.9±7.8) was significantly higher than that in control group (77.3±7.7) after the intervention (p=0.57). intra-group comparisons also confirmed the above-mentioned findings. implications for practice: the designed educational video game could significantly improve children’s self-care scores. given that internet-based video games can be manipulated and quickly updated, it was suggested to compare online and offline video games in future studies.