From "asthma-geek" to "cool kid"

The current epitome of cool for teenagers is computer games, and the hottest game on the market is The Sims. Having The Sims on your PC is, to use teenage jargon "serious street cred". We propose supplying each youngster on the programme with a copy of The Sims, with an option for those who may already have purchased the game. The games are tailored to specific age groups (there is SimTheme Park for younger children), which is ideal for a communications programme which has to take into account a range of ages.

Compliance and self-discipline

While youngsters may intellectually appreciate the need to comply with a strict health regimen, asthma only achieves top-of-mind awareness during an attack. For the rest, complying with the disciplines of preventive care is an onerous chore, boring, time-consuming and pointless - they would rather be having fun than blowing into a peak flow meter and filling in charts. This is where games hold a key advantage - turning healthcare into fun. Adventure games are notoriously addictive -youngsters want to play them every day. Usually, they have to fight with their parents for permission. Now, their parents will encourage them to play - is that cool or what? And all they have to do is answer a few questions during the log-in to the game! In order to access the game, a password is required, which will be structured to several levels.