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Symposium of the Austrian HCI and Usability Engineering Group

USAB 2011: Information Quality in e-Health pp 191–210Cite as

The Prepared Partner: Can a Video Game Teach Labor and Childbirth Support Techniques?

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 7058))

Abstract

The experience of childbirth is highly individualized. Proper preparation and support before, during, and after the onset of labor is key to shortening labor, decreasing the need for interventions during labor, and ultimately increasing maternal happiness. This paper reports the evaluation of The Prepared Partner, a simple game with goals to introduce natural ways to help a woman in labor, and their effects on labor; to introduce the mechanics of labor and childbirth; to practice interacting with a woman in labor; and to simulate the stages of labor. The user evaluation of The Prepared Partner showed an overwhelming majority of positive responses to the subjective portion of the study, and showed participants performed significantly better on a post-test about labor and childbirth than on a pre-test (p < 0.01). Furthermore, labor support was a major theme in a write-in question about childbirth, thus highlighting the effectiveness of The Prepared Partner in introducing the profound need for supporting a woman throughout birth.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Assistive Technology Lab, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA

    Alexandra Holloway & Sri Kurniawan

Authors
  1. Alexandra Holloway
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  2. Sri Kurniawan
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medical Informatics, Statistics and Documentation (IMI), Research Unit Human–Computer Interaction, Medical University Graz (MUG), Auenbruggerplatz 2/V, 8036, Graz, Austria

    Andreas Holzinger  & Klaus-Martin Simonic  & 

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© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Holloway, A., Kurniawan, S. (2011). The Prepared Partner: Can a Video Game Teach Labor and Childbirth Support Techniques?. In: Holzinger, A., Simonic, KM. (eds) Information Quality in e-Health. USAB 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7058. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25364-5_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25364-5_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-25363-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-25364-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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