Using a Digital Game for Training Desirable Behavior in Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy of Burnout Syndrome: A Controlled Study

Abstract

Using a digital game for training desirable behavior in cogrnitive-behavioral therapy for burnout syndrome: a controlled study Zielhorst, T.; van den Brule, D.; Visch, V.; Melles, M.; van Tienhoven, S.; Sinkbaek, H.; Schrieken, B.A.L.; Tan, E.S.H.; Lange, A. Published in:Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking DOI:10.1089/cyber.2013.0690 Link to publicationCitation for published version (APA): Zielhorst, T., van den Brule, D., Visch, V., Melles, M., van Tienhoven, S., Sinkbaek, H., ... Lange, A. (2015). Using a digital game for training desirable behavior in cogrnitive-behavioral therapy for burnout syndrome: a controlled study. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 18(2), 101-111. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2013.0690 General rightsIt is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. Burnout is a globally increasing illness, and as a result, many forms of burnout therapy have arisen. The use of digital games can be psychotherapeutically effective because they can transform exercises that are by themselves unattractive into intrinsically motivated action. This pilot study aims to test whether a specially designed game contributes to patients learning desired behavior and achieving other specific therapeutic goals in an online cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)-based burnout treatment context. In total, 101 participants took part in the experiment, under four conditions: (a) Game + Therapy, (b) Therapy Only, (c) Game Only, and (d) No Game + No Therapy. Pre-and postmeasures were taken online. Results showed that the two therapy conditions (Game + Therapy and Therapy Only) showed a greater decrease in complaints and disengagement, and a stronger increase in coping skills than the nontherapy conditions (Game Only and No Game + No Therapy). As expected, the Game + Therapy condition outperformed the Therapy Only condition on combined improvement measures of burnout symptoms. However, analyses of individual measures showed no effects. It can be cautiously concluded that the therapeutic digital game may be a useful tool when embedded in a therapeutic burnout treatment program and is probably more efficient than CBT, as it is used in current practice.

Technologies for Monitoring Lifestyle Habits Related to Brain Health: A Systematic Review

“…As can be seen in Figure 2, the five studies focused on physical activity [27,32,34,36,37] represent a third of the total, and the five focused on life purpose studies [28,30,35,39,40] represent another third. Four of the studies related to the “life purpose” pillar [30,32,41,42] (80% of the “life purpose” pillar related studies and 26.66% of the total of studies) focus on habit management and CBT. Only two of the studies [36,40], which represent 13.33%, are multimodal.…”

“…Figure 3 shows the classification of studies according to how they monitor subjects. Eight of the studies identified (53.33%) [30,31,32,33,35,37,40,41] employed light monitoring, based on questionnaires and tests to get data and parameters from users. Three of the studies [29,36,39] (20%) employed heavy monitoring with controlled spaces or specific devices.…”

“…Six of the studies [29,33,36,38,40,43] (40%) did not carry out any kind of intervention. Static interventions were conducted in five of the studies [31,34,35,41,42] (33.33%). The remaining four studies [30,32,37,39] (26.67%) report a dynamic automatized or semi-automatized guided intervention.…”

Developing Digital Intervention Games for Mental Disorders: A Review

“…Using CBT, ''Dealing with Others,'' when combined with therapy, was found to improve coping skills for burnout syndrome more than therapy alone. 66 ''Dealing with Others'' trains individuals to assertively communicate with coworkers and offers positive thoughts about themselves or society. Difficulty levels increase as players gather points.…”

Burnout Syndrome Among Medical Students: An Integrative Review

“…stress, which supports their occupational nature. (3,4,5) Medical students are continually exposed to stressors such as: adaptation difficulties, excessive workload and / or studies and lack of leisure time which, if persistent, may trigger the syndrome. These factors are potentially responsible for several psychosocial changes that lead to the development of anxiety and depression, which can lead to suicide.…”