Extended Reality to Enhance Well-Being in Paediatric Department: A Preliminary Evaluation of the Il Piccolo Principe Project

The present work intends to make a preliminary evaluation of the technological implementations developed for the ‘Il Piccolo Principe’ (‘The Little Prince’) project, designed for the Paediatric Department of the ‘Vito Fazzi’ Hospital in Lecce, Italy. The aim of the project is to implement distress reduction both before and during hospitalisation using eXtended Reality applications. Through research activities conducted on different thematic levels, a compartment of tools was designed to improve the physical and psychological well-being of hospitalised children. This led to the development of a VR application usable with a cardboard, a multi-user VR application, a VR application for pain therapy, and an AR application to experience a treasure hunt in the department. The common thread running through all activities is the story of ‘The Little Prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, from which inspiration was drawn for the creation of the storytelling and digital settings.