Pain Buddy

Functionality & Mechanism

Developed at the University of California, Irvine, Pain Buddy is an mHealth system for pediatric oncology. The application's interface utilizes an animated avatar to capture daily reports on pain, symptoms, and management strategies. The system integrates a gamified incentive structure, rewarding diary completion with virtual currency for in-app games and avatar customizations. For intervention arms of clinical studies, the platform also delivers cognitive behavioral skills training and facilitates remote symptom monitoring, which can trigger alerts to providers for clinically significant events.

Evidence & Research Context

• A randomized controlled trial (N=48) evaluated the system over 60 days in children undergoing cancer treatment to assess its impact on pain.
• While both intervention and control groups experienced reduced average daily pain, the intervention group reported significantly fewer instances of moderate to severe pain (p=0.007).
• By the end of the study period, the intervention group, which received remote monitoring and skills training, reported no instances of moderate to severe pain.
• An earlier preliminary pilot study (N=12) demonstrated high user satisfaction and confirmed the system's feasibility for capturing clinically relevant symptom data.

Intended Use & Scope

This system is designed for children and adolescents (ages 8-18) with cancer as an adjunct tool for symptom management within a clinical or research setting. Its primary utility is to facilitate longitudinal symptom tracking and deliver skills-based training. Pain Buddy does not provide medical advice and is not a substitute for direct consultation with a healthcare provider or emergency services.