Gamifying CBT to deliver emotional health treatment to young people on smartphones

Abstract

mHealth interventions promise the economic delivery of evidence-based mental health treatments like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to populations that struggle to access health services, such as adolescents and in New Zealand, Māori and Pasifika youth. Unfortunately engagement with digital therapies is poor; modularisation and gamification have potential to increase their appeal. Gamifying CBT involves selecting suitable interventions, adapting them to a digital format while applying gamification principles. We describe the design and development of Quest - Te Whitianga, an app that encourages the user to learn CBT skills via a series of activities and games. A variety of approaches including consultation with clinicians, reference to best-practice literature, focus groups and interactive workshops with youth were used to inform the co-design process. Clinicians worked iteratively with experienced game designers to co-create a youth CBT digital intervention. The Quest modular app is set on an ocean and the user travels between islands to learn six evidence-based skills. These include a relaxation/mindfulness activity, activity planning, a gratitude journal plus problem solving and communication skills training. We describe the theoretical and design aspects of each module detailing the gamified features that aim to increase user engagement. In the near future we will be testing the app and the principles discussed in this paper via a randomised-controlled trial.

Young people’s advisory groups in health research: scoping review and mapping of practices

“…The corresponding authors of all 27 studies were contacted; 21 authors replied. From these, 15 of the 21 studies confirmed they included a YPAG [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] ; the remaining 6 either did not use a YPAG (n=3) [28][29][30] or had YPAG members who were all aged over 18 years (n=3). 31,32,33 For the six studies where authors did not respond, we assumed a YPAG was used based on information provided in the paper.…”

“…The identified studies that used a YPAG covered a range of topics such as cyberbullying, 14 supporting young people in their decision to join a clinical trial, 24 sexual health, 18,22,25 exploring novel mental health treatment options, 13,20 healthy eating interventions, 26 and treatment for conditions such as arthritis 15 and diabetes. 27 All but two of the studies were conducted in high income countries.…”

The analysis of cognitive restructuring techniques effectiveness to reduce the online game addiction

“…CBT with cognitive restructuring technique is effective against reducing online game addiction because cognitive restructuring technique is a technique that helps change irrational thinking in a more positive direction or towards irrational so that it can change someone's behavior (Christie et al, 2019;Dieris-Hirche et al, 2020;Kim, Han, Lee, & Renshaw, 2012;Kolstee et al, 2020;Muroff & Robinson, 2020;Taquet, Hautekeete, & Gorgeu, 2014). This is in line with the opinion of Aaron T. Beck (2011) that the cognitive behavior therapy approach is a counseling approach designed to solve problems experienced by the counselee by providing several techniques, one of which is cognitive restructuring.…”

Acceptability and Utility of an Open-Access, Online Single-Session Intervention Platform for Adolescent Mental Health (Preprint)

“…Randomized trials suggest the promise of internet-and smartphone-based youth mental health tools [6][7][8][9][10]. However, formal clinical trial outcomes may not reflect the utility or usability of digital supports in naturalistic contexts.…”