On Tuesday last, October 31st, Òscar Garcia Pañella, Academic Director of ENTI-UB, the Video Games University, participated in a master class in the Degree in International Physiotherapy. The session enjoyed a high level of participation, with a total of 120 people attending.
Garcia Pañella focused on gamification in the field of physiotherapy and health. In this sense, he pointed out that the difference between yesterday and today, or at least one of them, is that in addition to the functionality of the protocols and services in the field of physiotherapy, patients need to have a good experience in order to achieve the best adhesion to treatment. For this reason, it is crucial to offer personalised experiences that are tailored to the user, since they need autonomy and good alternatives, among which is the ability to choose.
During his speech, Pañella stressed that in healthcare gamifying, physiotherapists shouldn’t have an approach on reformulating an existing product with small changes, since this would in reality be a deception. On the contrary, gamifying involves designing the service or product and the praxis as something memorable from the outset. In all this process, especially in the field of health, it is essential to take into account the needs of patients.
Lastly Dr Garcia Pañella made it clear that when it comes to gamifying, psychology has to be put before technology. For this reason, it is important to get the public to feel motivated and self-directed. I.e. that they feel that they are the ones who decide and that they can do it by making an effort. Therefore, by starting out with the fundamental concepts for the creation of any game such as: the narrative metaphor, a good story, design and artistic creation, excellent results can be obtained in the area of health.
