Experience Mining Through Ethnography Study Among Pediatric Cancer Patients in Malaysia

Pediatric cancer patients' experience being hospitalized can be dull and depressing. This paper describes a work done to understand the pediatric cancer patients' experience when they were hospitalized for treatment. This study combines two main techniques, namely the ethnography study (technique used to observe patients' activities in the ward) and data mining (a technique used to analyze the data collected through ethnography study). These two techniques are the main techniques used to collect the experience qualitatively and to capture the experience quantitatively. The observation period was conducted over two (2) months. Furthermore, text mining technique is used to analyze the association between patient's experience and behavior in the ward. The study findings suggest that patients were mostly bored or depressed. To cope with the boredom, parents or guardians used their mobile phone, television available in the ward, books, toys, or computer among other things to distract them. Our study results provide very useful outcome and can be used by medical providers, psychologists, game designers or others to develop applications to empower the pediatric cancer patients during ward stay.