Gaming elements, applications, and challenges of gamification in healthcare

Background: & Motivation: Gamification has been identified to be one of the effective approaches in attracting the user's attention and leading behavioural change. However, its application in the field of healthcare has been associated with various challenges. As different conditions need different behavioural therapies, so do the elements and features of the games, targeting the different conditions. Furthermore, games for other purposes such as creating awareness might have different elements and features. Therefore, it is important to understand the concept of gamification in healthcare to support the game developers, decision-makers and future researchers, which motivates the authors to conduct this study. Purpose: The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature on the concept of gamification, analyse its gaming elements, its applications and its challenges in the field of healthcare. Methods: The methodology used in this systematic literature search involved a general database exploration, a focused search and a manual examination. Keywords related to gamification were employed to extract the peer-reviewed articles from the data bases. The articles were obtained from Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, and the Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University's e-Resource databases. Results: Findings from the study revealed that points, leader boards, levels, feedback, and challenges were the most commonly used gaming elements in gamified healthcare applications. The assessment also found a growing use of gamified systems in physical fitness, medication and chronic disease management, rehabilitation, and physical therapy for children and adults. Despite its broad application, there are concerns that cheating, privacy violation, and gradual loss of interest among users prevent the success of gamification in healthcare. Conclusion: The outcomes from the study support the claim that gamification improves users’ health behaviors. However, further research is needed to identify game designs that will limit cheating, enhance user privacy, and maintain user interest.