Purpose: To determine whether playing a simple CD-ROM educational game (developed specifically for children with sickle cell disease), improved children's knowledge and confidence in selected symptom management and practice.
Method: Twenty-two eligible children completed a pretest to determine knowledge and confidence levels, played the Sickle Cell Slime-O-Rama Game, then completed an identical posttest.
Findings: Significant increases in knowledge (t = 2.828, p =.010) and confidence (t = 3.759, p =.001) levels between pre- and posttests were identified.
Conclusions: It is promising that a simple, interacting CD-ROM game allowed children with sickle cell disease to quickly acquire knowledge about the disease and symptom management, and increased their confidence to apply this new knowledge. Results suggest the high utility of this tailored game to foster active self-management behaviors in this population.