Spare Me: Towards an Empathetic Tool for Helping Adolescents & Teenagers Cope with Sickle Cell

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a painful blood disorder that affects hemoglobin in red blood cells causing them to sickle and clog the veins of its sufferers. More than 100,000 people live with SCD in the U.S. And more´ than a million people are living with the disease world-wide. 60% of SCD patients, aged ten to nineteen, experience one or more painful events a year. Mobile health applications can improve the overall well-being of patients with chronic diseases by lowering costs, improving quality and access of care, and shifting behavior to prevention of hospital stays. Spare Me is a mobile health tool, that once complete, will help to predict sickle cell crises and communicate with its users on how to cope and remain healthy. This paper describes the affective communication strategy called Spare Me How. Spare Me How uses heart rate variability, pain-levels, diet, and fluid intake to create affective messages to send empathetic messages through instant message (IM).