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Toward Game-Based Digital Mental Health Interventions: Player Habits and Preferences

BACKGROUND: Designers of digital interventions for mental health often leverage interactions from games because the intrinsic motivation that results from game-based interventions may increase participation and translate into improved treatment efficacy. However, there are outstanding questions abou...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Mandryk, Regan Lee, Birk, Max Valentin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5418528/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28428161
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/jmir.6906
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author Mandryk, Regan Lee
Birk, Max Valentin
author_facet Mandryk, Regan Lee
Birk, Max Valentin
author_sort Mandryk, Regan Lee
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Designers of digital interventions for mental health often leverage interactions from games because the intrinsic motivation that results from game-based interventions may increase participation and translate into improved treatment efficacy. However, there are outstanding questions about the suitability (eg, are desktop or mobile interventions more appropriate?) and intervention potential (eg, do people with depression activate enough to play?) of games for mental health. OBJECTIVE: In this paper, we aimed to describe the presently unknown relationship between gaming activity and indicators of well-being so that designers make informed choices when designing game-based interventions for mental health. METHODS: We gathered validated scales of well-being (Beck’s Depression Inventory [BDI-II], Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ-9], trait anxiety [TA], and basic psychological needs satisfaction [BPNS]), play importance (control over game behavior: control; gamer identity: identity), and play behavior (play frequency, platform preferences, and genre preferences) in a Web-based survey (N=491). RESULTS: The majority of our participants played games a few times a week (45.3%, 222/490) or daily (34.3%, 168/490). In terms of depression, play frequency was associated with PHQ-9 (P=.003); PHQ-9 scores were higher for those who played daily than for those who played a few times a week or less. Similarly, for BDI-II (P=.01), scores were higher for those who played daily than for those who played once a week or less. Genre preferences were not associated with PHQ-9 (P=.32) or BDI-II (P=.68); however, platform preference (ie, mobile, desktop, or console) was associated with PHQ-9 (P=.04); desktop-only players had higher PHQ-9 scores than those who used all platforms. Platform preference was not associated with BDI-II (P=.18). In terms of anxiety, TA was not associated with frequency (P=.23), platform preference (P=.07), or genre preference (P=.99). In terms of needs satisfaction, BPNS was not associated with frequency (P=.25) or genre preference (P=.53), but it was associated with platform preference (P=.01); desktop-only players had lower needs satisfaction than those who used all platforms. As expected, play frequency was associated with identity (P<.001) and control (P<.001); those who played more had identified more as a gamer and had less control over their gameplay. Genre preference was associated with identity (P<.001) and control (P<.001); those who played most common genres had higher control over their play and identified most as gamers. Platform preference was not associated with control (P=.80), but was with identity (P=.001); those who played on all devices identified more as a gamer than those who played on mobiles or consoles only. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that games are a suitable approach for mental health interventions as they are played broadly by people across a range of indicators of mental health. We further unpack the platform preferences and genre preferences of players with varying levels of well-being.
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spelling pubmed-54185282017-05-17 Toward Game-Based Digital Mental Health Interventions: Player Habits and Preferences Mandryk, Regan Lee Birk, Max Valentin J Med Internet Res Original Paper BACKGROUND: Designers of digital interventions for mental health often leverage interactions from games because the intrinsic motivation that results from game-based interventions may increase participation and translate into improved treatment efficacy. However, there are outstanding questions about the suitability (eg, are desktop or mobile interventions more appropriate?) and intervention potential (eg, do people with depression activate enough to play?) of games for mental health. OBJECTIVE: In this paper, we aimed to describe the presently unknown relationship between gaming activity and indicators of well-being so that designers make informed choices when designing game-based interventions for mental health. METHODS: We gathered validated scales of well-being (Beck’s Depression Inventory [BDI-II], Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ-9], trait anxiety [TA], and basic psychological needs satisfaction [BPNS]), play importance (control over game behavior: control; gamer identity: identity), and play behavior (play frequency, platform preferences, and genre preferences) in a Web-based survey (N=491). RESULTS: The majority of our participants played games a few times a week (45.3%, 222/490) or daily (34.3%, 168/490). In terms of depression, play frequency was associated with PHQ-9 (P=.003); PHQ-9 scores were higher for those who played daily than for those who played a few times a week or less. Similarly, for BDI-II (P=.01), scores were higher for those who played daily than for those who played once a week or less. Genre preferences were not associated with PHQ-9 (P=.32) or BDI-II (P=.68); however, platform preference (ie, mobile, desktop, or console) was associated with PHQ-9 (P=.04); desktop-only players had higher PHQ-9 scores than those who used all platforms. Platform preference was not associated with BDI-II (P=.18). In terms of anxiety, TA was not associated with frequency (P=.23), platform preference (P=.07), or genre preference (P=.99). In terms of needs satisfaction, BPNS was not associated with frequency (P=.25) or genre preference (P=.53), but it was associated with platform preference (P=.01); desktop-only players had lower needs satisfaction than those who used all platforms. As expected, play frequency was associated with identity (P<.001) and control (P<.001); those who played more had identified more as a gamer and had less control over their gameplay. Genre preference was associated with identity (P<.001) and control (P<.001); those who played most common genres had higher control over their play and identified most as gamers. Platform preference was not associated with control (P=.80), but was with identity (P=.001); those who played on all devices identified more as a gamer than those who played on mobiles or consoles only. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that games are a suitable approach for mental health interventions as they are played broadly by people across a range of indicators of mental health. We further unpack the platform preferences and genre preferences of players with varying levels of well-being. JMIR Publications 2017-04-20 /pmc/articles/PMC5418528/ /pubmed/28428161 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/jmir.6906 Text en ©Regan Lee Mandryk, Max Valentin Birk. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 20.04.2017. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Mandryk, Regan Lee
Birk, Max Valentin
Toward Game-Based Digital Mental Health Interventions: Player Habits and Preferences
title Toward Game-Based Digital Mental Health Interventions: Player Habits and Preferences
title_full Toward Game-Based Digital Mental Health Interventions: Player Habits and Preferences
title_fullStr Toward Game-Based Digital Mental Health Interventions: Player Habits and Preferences
title_full_unstemmed Toward Game-Based Digital Mental Health Interventions: Player Habits and Preferences
title_short Toward Game-Based Digital Mental Health Interventions: Player Habits and Preferences
title_sort toward game-based digital mental health interventions: player habits and preferences
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5418528/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28428161
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/jmir.6906
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