Challenges and Opportunities for Playful Technology in Health Prevention: Using Virtual Reality to Supplement Breastfeeding Education

Abstract

Playful technology offers the opportunity to engage users, convey knowledge and prompt reflection. We built on this potential and designed a VR simulation to give parents-to-be insights into the lived breastfeeding experience. An evaluation with 10 participants revealed that users appreciated the system but perceived similarity between the simulation and games, leading to conflicting expectations. Reflecting on this, we outline challenges for playful VR simulation design for healthcare contexts.