Waiting for learning: designing interactive educational materials for patient waiting areas

This document describes the plan for research and development of educational media for children in doctor's office waiting areas. Technology in health care has become increasingly prominent and effective for doctors, administration, and patients; however, the research on the use of technology for health education is limited. In this project, I focus on clinics for Sickle Cell Disease treatment. Here patients come in a variety of ages and severity, but they share a common disease and visit the clinic frequently. In this document I describe my current research to better understand the behaviors of patients as they wait in the clinic, their expectations and understandings of Sickle Cell and its treatment, the educational material currently available, and my methods for developing interactive technologies for these environments.