Exploring Amico H impact: A promising tool to promote children’s knowledge and adherence to medical procedures [Un’esplorazione dell’impatto di Amico H: uno strumento promettente per promuovere la conoscenza della salute e delle procedure mediche da parte dei bambini]

Background: mHealth (e.g., the use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets for delivering healthcare services) has become a crucial resource in pediatric healthcare, providing children with psychoeducation and distraction, and enhancing treatment compliance. Amico H, a newly developed application, is targeted at ameliorating children’s and parents’ experience of pediatric medical procedures and communication with healthcare professionals. With the virtual environment of a castle, Amico H is a mHealth app for children, offering interactive games and psychoeducational support during medical treatments. The present experience explores the impact of the Amico H prototype on children, teens, and parents in terms of pleasantness, usability, and usefulness. Method: A total of 99 children and teens aged 4-19 years (10.53 ± 3.69 years; 73% female), both hospitalized (28%) or not and N=32 caregivers (72% mothers) responded to an ad-hoc survey on the app’s user experience. Descriptive analyses and group comparisons have been computed. Results: Findings highlight that children and caregivers were highly amused and satisfied by Amico H. Compared to teens, children needed more help from adults in the use of the app. Conclusion: All the results indicate that Amico H is a powerful tool to ameliorate pediatric hospitalization experience and to promote children’s knowledge about health and medical procedures. The need for age-specific versions of Amico H emerged. Future directions and limits are discussed.