People Driven Digital unAwards 2015
Runner up of the Most innovative patient/people developed digital technology
This category recognises people accessing health or care services who have found digital solutions to problems they face. This may be developing a new digital technology or it may be about using an existing technology (including social media) in new and innovative ways.Flowy – is a mobile game which is currently being used by thousands people who experience panic and anxiety disorders to help them to manage their conditions. It’s a game that you control by breathing, that lets users easily perform these exercises anywhere they go.
Website: http://www.flowygame.com/
More about Flowy
Six years ago on New Year’s Eve, Playlab’s CEO Simon Fox experienced his first severe panic attack. At midnight, instead of drinking champagne and celebrating with his friends and family, he was upstairs in his childhood bedroom convulsing and desperately afraid that he was going to die. He didn’t know it then, but this was the onset of a panic disorder, and within the next four months, his life would completely fall apart.For six million people in the UK, this is a daily occurrence. Effective treatments are available for free on the NHS but few seek them. Of those experiencing panic and anxiety disorders, only 15% see treatment, and out of those who do seek treatment, a further 65% will never make it to their first appointment. These statistics are bewildering because they show that an awful lot of people are suffering on their own. Some people just don’t understand that there is something wrong with them, or they don’t know that they can expect life to be any better.
That’s why we decided to build Flowy. Flowy is a mobile game which is currently being used by thousands people who experience panic and anxiety disorders to help them to manage their condition. It is a game that you control by breathing. It enables users to easily perform the structured breathing retraining exercises that many clinicians offer their clients anywhere they go. In July 2014 we ran a clinical trial where we assessed the efficacy and acceptability of Flowy with 63 people over a month. We saw a measurable decrease in self-reported anxiety, panic and hyperventilation scores. We saw a significant increase in the quality of life scores of people who used Flowy. Every single person who actually used Flowy found it useful. 10,000 people in 110 different countries are currently using Flowy to manage their panic attacks and together they have taken 200,000 Flowy breaths.
75% of people who were either anxious or very anxious when they started playing Flowy were no longer anxious by the time they finished playing. One of our users shared with us that Flowy had helped her to feel comfortable enough with managing her panic attacks that for the first time, she took a seven hour road trip with her four year old son, when before that she’d never driven more than two hours from home by herself. In collecting user stories from our participants, we get a sense that Flowy has helped them to not just have stories of living, but stories of living really well.
We’re still getting amazing qualitative feedback: “Since first using Flowy I have been feeling a lot better.” “I am a lot happier having this game with me, it sometimes feels like a secret weapon!” “For me, it’s changed my life completely, and I know this is a story you must hear over and over again.”