Project GO Kart: Therapeutic Gaming Kiosks for Hospitalized Children

Mental health

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Los Angeles County hospitals care for tens of thousands of children annually. During hospitalization, kids lose access to friends, familiar routines, and moments that define childhood. Peer-reviewed studies detail the negative effects of hospitalization on children. One study found that hospitalization can be incredibly stressful, while another uncovered that hospitalization brings high levels of fear, anxiety, and isolation. Targeted interventions are proven to address this research; therapeutic play improves mental and socio-emotional health for kids. In turn, improvements can lead to better patient outcomes. Yet, hospitals often lack platforms for play due to space constraints, staff priorities, and financial limitations. We address these gaps by offering a sustainable solution to integrate therapeutic and healing play effectively.

We design, create, and administer accessible play kiosks called GO Karts (Gamers Outreach Karts) inside hospitals. Each GO Kart is a portable, medical-grade unit that includes a monitor, game console, controllers, and a selection of child-friendly games. These kiosks provide everything needed for therapeutic play at a child’s hospital bedside, promoting innovative care practices for young patients.
The games included in each GO Kart are carefully curated to enhance mental health and well-being. Multiplayer games help connect children with family and other patients, reducing loneliness and fostering a sense of belonging. Puzzle games engage children in problem-solving activities, helping to alleviate anxiety and depression by providing a sense of achievement and redirecting focus from distressing thoughts. Research supports the therapeutic value of play on mental health: a recent study found that 70% of players reported increased happiness, 70% experienced reduced anxiety, 60% noted decreased feelings of loneliness, and over 80% felt less stress. Ultimately, GO Karts serve as portals to digital playgrounds, transforming children's natural enthusiasm for games into a therapeutic tool that improves mental health and makes hospital stays more comfortable.
This funding will enable Gamers Outreach to expand Project GO Kart like never before. We'll implement twenty (20) new therapeutic gaming kiosks across LA County, directly impacting nearly 60,000 children within one year.

Success means providing thousands of children in LA County with powerful tools to improve their mental health and manage trauma. GO Karts will alleviate anxiety and stress, promote meaningful social interactions, offer needed distractions from pain and uncomfortable treatments, nurture reassuring feelings of normalcy, and enable the adoption of healthy coping mechanisms. Success also involves catalyzing social change in LA County. By expanding Project GO Kart, we’ll demonstrate how this innovative solution effectively addresses the unmet mental health needs of pediatric patients. GO Karts contribute to more caring, responsive, and inclusive environments that other healthcare facilities will want to emulate with our help. Additionally, the program addresses the issue of out-migration in LA County by enhancing the hospital experience. By making hospitals more child-friendly and supportive, we can help retain families in the area who might otherwise seek better care options elsewhere.

We currently use qualitative methods to measure our impact, such as follow-ups and regular check-ins with hospital partners to determine how Project GO Kart is impacting children. That said, as we expand, we're also implementing a data collection program in 20 different hospitals, and have an overarching goal of implementing the program in all hospitals with GO Karts by the end of 2025. The data collection program includes patient and caregiver surveys that will be completed and returned to Gamers Outreach on a monthly basis from each hospital. This survey will enable Gamers Outreach to further quantify the impacts of Project GO Kart. The goal is to eventually have all patient surveys submitted digitally. All HIPAA protocol and guidelines are used to remove confidential, personal information (CPI) from collected surveys.