"DIABETOUR'': A DIGITAL STORYTELLING PROJECT FOR CHILDREN AFFECTED WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES MELLITUS

Diabetour (for Smartphone and Tablet Android) uses Java language and teaching tutorial approach. Through the game-learning dimension, it creates a communication channel with the child, his/her real world and health condition, in a space in which he/she becomes “the real protagonist of his/her life”. It gently enters in the child emotional sphere, allowing him/her to express his/her discomforts, so that he/she won’t feel alone facing diabetes. Diabetour target This digital story can be used both in hospital setting (target: the new “digital-native” generation of 3-6 year-old children and their caregivers) and outside hospital (home, school, friends, sport…), with a formative purpose for all the diab-community members. express his/her discomforts, so that he/she won’t feel alone facing diabetes. Diabetour is a useful tool in the self-management process which leads a preschool age child to become a healthy man/woman in the future. In the magic dimension of “once upon a time”, children can “escape” from the heavy and oppressive reality of the disease and give some order to the emotional chaos they are experiencing, inevitable consequence of diabetes onset. They learn how to deal with difficulties, rules, daily challenges and hypoglycemic events . The digital storytelling is different from common animated cartoons, because the child can really interact with the story, improving the disease knowledge and self-management through physical, emotional, intellectual and social experiences, promoting a positive relationship between the child and the caregivers.