Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28956222›Full record

Trial reportPrevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research2018

Preventing Childhood Anxiety Disorders: Is an Applied Game as Effective as a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Based Program?

Elke A Schoneveld, Anna Lichtwarck-Aschoff, Isabela Granic

Open access · hybridAbstract readMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled TrialEquivalence Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
40citing papers in PubMed, 8 pooled it
10.0field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

40 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 88 citations in OpenAlex.

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  8. Brief, Non-Pharmacological, Interventions for Pediatric Anxiety: Meta-Analysis and Evidence Base Status.Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53
    Pooled it
  9. Promoting Voter Turnout: an Unanticipated Impact of Early-Childhood Preventive Interventions.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2022
    Trial
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  16. Adolescent digital emotion regulation.Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · 2024
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Elke A SchoneveldBehavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Montessorilaan 3, 6525, HR, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. e.schoneveld@pwo.ru.nl.
Anna Lichtwarck-AschoffBehavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Montessorilaan 3, 6525, HR, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Isabela GranicBehavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Montessorilaan 3, 6525, HR, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Radboud University Nijmegen · NL

Funding

Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek 406-12-017
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A large proportion of children experience subclinical levels of anxiety and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) aimed at preventing anxiety disorders is moderately effective. However, most at-risk children do not seek help or drop out of programs prematurely because of stigma, lack of motivation, and accessibility barriers. Applied games have received increased attention as viable alternatives and have shown promising results, but direct comparisons between applied games and the gold-standard CBT are lacking. Our aim was to investigate whether the applied game MindLight is as effective as CBT (i.e., Coping Cat) within an indicated prevention context. We conducted a randomized controlled non-inferiority trial with a sample of 174 children (7- to 12-year olds) with elevated levels of anxiety, comparing MindLight to CBT. Anxiety was assessed with self- and parent-reports at pre- and post-program, and at 3- and 6-month follow-ups. Intention-to-treat and completers-only confidence interval approach and latent growth curve modeling showed an overall significant quadratic decrease in child- and parent-reported anxiety symptoms over time and, as predicted, the magnitude of improvement was the same for MindLight and CBT. The within-group effect sizes were small to medium at post-test (- 0.32 to - 0.63), and medium to large (- 0.60 to - 1.07) at 3- and 6-month follow-ups. Furthermore, MindLight and CBT were rated equally anxiety inducing, difficult, and appealing; CBT was rated as more relevant to daily life than MindLight. The current study adds to the growing research on applied games for mental health and shows that these games hold potential as alternative delivery models for evidence-based therapeutic techniques.

Indexed as

Video GamesAdultAnxiety DisordersChildCognitive Behavioral TherapyFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNetherlandsAnxietyApplied gameCBTChildrenNon-inferiorityPreventionRandomized controlled trial

Identifiers

PMID28956222
PMCPMC5801383
OpenAlexW2758021935

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.