Diabetes Dateline

Interactive Games Teach Kids Diabetes Self-Management Skills

Two new video games are designed especially for kids with diabetes to teach them about diabetes self-management through interactive fun.

Although the games are geared toward young people with type 1 diabetes, they provide information that enables kids to learn more about diabetes in general, ways to manage their diet, the basic concepts of food exchanges and meal planning, and the relationship between food, insulin, and blood glucose control.

The games also address important problems of self-image that kids face, and they provide coping skills through the different social situations presented. The video games are available in English, Spanish, and French.

Starbright Life Adventure Series

The Starbright Foundation recently unveiled the Starbright Life Adventure Series: Diabetes CD-ROM, a program for children with diabetes that takes players through an interactive, educational adventure of a day in the life of a child with diabetes.

The CD-ROM program, which uses interactive adventures to teach children how to manage their diabetes properly, is centered on an animated alien character named "Xylo," narrated by actor/comedian Martin Short. Fast-paced exercises, quizzes, and arcade-style games provide players with information to help them gain more control over their disease. A program narrated in Spanish is also available.

The Starbright Foundation is a nonprofit organization chaired by Steven Spielberg and General Norman Schwarzkopf. It develops programs to help seriously ill children confront the medical and emotional challenges they face every day.

The Starbright Life Adventure Series: Diabetes
CD-ROM was funded by a donation from Eli Lilly and Company, a global research-based pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in Indianapolis. Families of children between the ages of 5 and 13 who have diabetes can get a free copy of the CD-ROM game by calling 1–800–760–3818.

Packy & Marlon

Packy & Marlon, a role-playing game available for use with the Super Nintendo and in CD-ROM for Windows, allows young people to manage meal planning, insulin administration, and blood glucose testing for two elephants who have diabetes.

In the game, Packy and Marlon head to summer diabetes camp, where they discover that rats and mice have invaded the camp and have scattered food and diabetes supplies everywhere.

Players win points as they manage the elephants' diabetes, selecting healthy foods, taking insulin appropriately, and monitoring blood glucose throughout each of 4 simulated days.

Clinical trials of the Packy & Marlon game were supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. According to the developers, trials showed that children with diabetes who played the game exhibited greater self-confidence in caring for their diabetes, improved communication about diabetes with friends and health care providers, and better self-care behavior. Throughout the 6-month trial period, the children also had a 77 percent reduction in unscheduled urgent care visits because of diabetes.

Packy & Marlon is available for $59.95, plus a $2.50 shipping and handling charge. To order, contact the Boehringer Mannheim Corporation at 1–800–428–5076.

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