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Abstract

Abstract Background: Medical rehabilitation can confront children with an unfamiliar environment, new daily routines, therapeutic procedures, schooling arrangements, and interactions with healthcare professionals and other children. Age-appropriate preparation may help children develop realistic expectations, gain orientation, and engage actively with their upcoming rehabilitation stay. However, preparation materials for children vary considerably in content, format, and degree of child-centeredness, while participatory development and personalization remain limited. The project Kinderleicht: Auf die Reha, fertig, los! aims to develop, iteratively test, and evaluate a personalized activity book that prepares primary school-aged children for medical rehabilitation in an age-appropriate, interactive, and child-centered manner. Methods: The activity book will be developed using a participatory and iterative approach. The content, design, interactive elements, and personalization of the activity book will be co-developed with children, parents, and professionals from pediatric rehabilitation. Participatory workshops will be used to explore relevant informational and emotional needs and to develop and refine the content and design of the activity book. The resulting prototype will subsequently undergo iterative usability testing. Finally, the personalized activity book will be evaluated under real-world conditions with children preparing for medical rehabilitation and their families. Quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to assess comprehensibility, relevance, usability, and perceived support and to identify potential areas for further optimization. Discussion: The Kinderleicht study uses a participatory development approach involving children, parents, and rehabilitation professionals. The personalized activity book is intended to provide children with an age-appropriate and interactive resource that supports their preparation for medical rehabilitation. The findings from the participatory development and formative evaluation will be used to finalize the intervention and provide a basis for a subsequent evaluation of its effectiveness.