Social connectedness through ICT and the influence on wellbeing: the case of the CareRabbit

The CareRabbit has been introduced as a technological innovation in the care for children, enabling family and friends to stay in touch while the child is hospitalized. This study addresses influence of this innovation on the wellbeing of the children, and uses the validated KINDL questionnaire, eliciting information from children and parents at the end of hospitalization. A baseline and an experimental measurement are compared. The children in the CareRabbit group scored slightly higher on the KINDL questionnaire than children in the control group. For young children (age 4-7) the difference was large. Initial findings indicate that CareRabbit has a positive influence on wellbeing, although sample size and measured differences limit the support for this conclusion. The measured difference suggests that CareRabbit may be more valuable for younger children.