Experiences of Users with an Online Self-Guided Mental Health Training Program Using Gamification

Young adulthood is a period of high risk for the development of mental health concerns. Increasing well-being among young adults is important to prevent mental health concerns and their consequences. Self-compassion has been identified as a modifiable trait with the potential to protect against mental health concerns. An online self-guided mental health training program using gamification was developed and the user experience was evaluated in a 6-week experimental design. During this period, 294 participants were allocated to use the online training program via a website. User experience was assessed via self-report questionnaires, and interaction data for the training program were also collected. Results showed that those who completed the intervention (n= 47) visited the website on average 3.2 days a week, with a mean of 45.8 interactions during the 6 weeks. Participants report positive user experiences of the online training, on average a System Usability Scale Brooke (1) score of 79.1 (out of 100) at the end-point. Participants showed positive engagement with story elements of the training, based on an average score of 4.1 (out of 5) in the evaluation of the story at the end-point. This study found the online self-compassion intervention for youth to be acceptable, although some features seem preferred by users as compared to others. Gamification in the form of a guiding story and a reward structure seemed to be a promising element for successfully motivating participants and serving as a guiding metaphor for self-compassion.