For children – with children: adapting Triumfland Saga for use in Sweden
The importance of stakeholder involvement
As a part of the research team CHAP at Uppsala University I am currently working close together with the Triumf Health team, as we are in preparations of pilot testing Triumfland Saga in Sweden. This collaboration not only allows but also encourages, an active involvement of children and youth in the process towards implementing the app. Adaptations have been made so contents suit the Swedish context. Recently, prior to a pilot study that will be conducted this fall, I had the great pleasure of leading some feasibility testing of the app. Children were invited to play Triumfland Saga - and thus help us understand how the game is perceived by someone who is intended to benefit from it. I have been using the app myself, several times over the past couple of months, and it became obvious that most of the feedback I would have provided based on my own experience would not have been particularly helpful had you asked the children.
What children in Sweden think of the game?
The first thing I noticed during the actual testing, was how the children didn’t need much time to familiarize themselves with the game environment and find their way around. None of them described the game as being too difficult or had any major issues in understanding what they were supposed to do. Instead, they all rather immediately started using parts of the game that may have taken me, well… a bit longer to locate. While some of the activities within the game were perceived as a bit of a challenge, the children described the actual game environment as making perfect sense to them.
Although the children’s encounter with the game was rather brief, it did indeed leave us with a good amount of valuable feedback on all aspects of the game, from looks to level of excitement to knowledge gained whilst playing the game. One example that stood out to me was the strong consensus among the children, on the importance of creating their character and choosing a sidekick. I learnt that this can be a fundamental part of the game and not something that is rushed through. The importance of freedom of choice was strongly emphasized several times and the aspect of inclusion was also highlighted. For example, everyone should be able to recognize themselves and there should be no difference in options for boys and girls.
Another example of feedback that has stayed with me after the testing, is the children’s appreciation of the social aspects of the game. “Wow, I can talk to everyone I meet!” Giving advice to others, getting pep-talks from the sidekick and answering questions about oneself was especially highlighted as a bit different from most other games. “They had problems with people making fun of them and I helped them. I liked that.”
Key learnings from this experience
During this experience I have, as I frequently do, reflected on the importance of working close together with children and adolescents when developing interventions aimed at them. Our testers got to try out an app that was developed together with other children, and the idea of that being one of the reasons why it resonated so well with them is close at hand. Involving children, preferably from early stages, will at the very least provide knowledge that simply isn’t possible to obtain otherwise. Of course, there are also various other reasons for collaborating with children and young people in research as well as in processes towards developing interventions. Involving them can lead to unexpected approaches, bring (many) new perspectives and help generating more useful results.
During and after our test session, the children also talked a lot about it being fun, important and special getting to try the app, to give their opinions – and have them passed on to developers. And that’s another important point; participation can also mean a lot to children and young people themselves. Thus, working with children is in itself a way to do work for them, both on the individual and group level.
