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Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
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New Media for New Organs

A Virtual Community for Pediatric Post-Transplant Patients

Marina U. Bers

Tufts University, USA, Marina.bers{at}tufts.edu

This article describes an eight-month pilot study in which 19 pediatric post-transplant patients at Children’s Hospital Boston, ages 11 to 15, used a computer-based psychosocial intervention developed on the Zora 3D multiuser environment. Zora provides tools to create an online virtual city and populate it with houses and personally-meaningful objects. Users can communicate with each other via real-time chat and participate in open-ended guided activities to create a social network of peers. Preliminary results support the idea that innovative technologies can help adolescent patients to create a support network of peers when face-to-face interactions are impossible.

Key Words: children’s virtual community • health care • multi-user virtual environment • online games • real-time chat

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, Vol. 15, No. 4, 462-469 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1354856509342344
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