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Kinderleicht: Auf die Reha, fertig, los! (“Easy as Pie: Ready, Set, Rehab!”)

Participatory development and pilot testing of a personalized activity book to prepare children for medical rehabilitation

Project Overview

Medical rehabilitation often represents a new and initially unfamiliar situation for children. Before their stay, many questions may arise: What does a rehabilitation clinic look like? What happens during admission? What does a typical day look like? What examinations and therapies are there? And what happens with school and leisure activities during rehabilitation?

Existing information materials are often primarily aimed at adults or present information in ways that are not sufficiently child-friendly. At the same time, age-appropriate preparation is important so that children know what to expect during their rehabilitation stay and can actively engage with the upcoming experience.

The project “Kinderleicht: Auf die Reha, fertig, los!” (which could roughly be translated as “Easy as Pie: Ready, Set, Rehab!”) therefore aims to develop a personalized, interactive activity book for primary school-aged children. It is designed to convey key information about medical rehabilitation in an understandable, engaging and playful way. Content on travel and arrival, admission, accommodation, daily routines, examinations, therapies, school at the rehabilitation clinic and leisure activities will be combined with puzzles, interactive activities and digital content accessible via QR codes.

The activity book will be developed and tested together with children, parents and professionals working in pediatric rehabilitation. Their experiences, questions and perspectives will form the basis for the development and design of the content.

Project objectives

The project aims to prepare children for an upcoming stay in medical rehabilitation in an age-appropriate manner, thus providing them with guidance and orientation for this new situation.

More specifically, the activity book aims to:

  • provide children with understandable and relevant information about medical rehabilitation,
  • enable stronger identification with the activity book through personalizable content and design options, helping children to see themselves reflected in it,
  • address uncertainties and unanswered questions prior to the rehabilitation stay,
  • promote realistic expectations regarding the routines and everyday life in a rehabilitation clinic,
  • encourage children to actively engage with their upcoming rehabilitation stay,
  • systematically incorporate children’s perspectives and information needs into the development of preparatory materials, and
  • develop a practice-oriented resource that can potentially be used by pediatric rehabilitation facilities in the future.

Methodological approach

The project follows a multi-stage participatory approach. The activity book will be developed together with the target group and subsequently tested under real-world conditions.

  • Co-design with children:
    In workshops, children will contribute their own questions, ideas and expectations. Together, content, presentation formats, illustrations and interactive elements of the activity book will be developed and tested.
  • Involvement of parents and professionals:
    The perspectives of parents and professionals working in pediatric rehabilitation will be included in order to take information needs, practical requirements and relevant content into account from different perspectives.
  • Development of the activity book:
    Based on the findings generated throughout the project, a child-friendly and personalizable activity book will be developed step by step. In addition to accessible information, it will include playful elements, puzzles and activities as well as digital extensions that can be accessed via QR codes.
  • Pilot testing:
    The activity book will subsequently be tested in two pediatric rehabilitation facilities. Particular attention will be paid to how understandable, appealing and feasible the resource is for children and families, as well as to which adaptations may be necessary for its future use.

Interested or Have Questions?

Please feel free to contact us by email at kinderleicht@uni-wh.de or by telephone via Tuğba Aksakal. We look forward to hearing from you!

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