ArticleJMIR mental health2018
An App That Incorporates Gamification, Mini-Games, and Social Connection to Improve Men's Mental Health and Well-Being (MindMax): Participatory Design Process.
Article in JMIR mental health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Conceptual Ambiguity Surrounding Gamification and Serious Games in Health Care: Literature Review and Development of Game-Based Intervention Reporting Guidelines (GAMING).Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Pooled it
- Generative Participatory Design Methodology to Develop Electronic Health Interventions: Systematic Literature Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Pooled it
- Co-Designing a Family e-Hub: A Systemic, Relational, Digital Mental Health Resource.Journal of marital and family therapy · 2026Article
- Exploring Serious Games in Supporting Postnatal Depression: Narrative Review.Interactive journal of medical research · 2026Review
- Adolescents' and youths' perceived barriers and facilitators to engaging with digital mental health interventions for depression and anxiety: A scoping review.Internet interventions · 2025Review
- Health-Promoting Effects and Everyday Experiences With a Mental Health App Using Ecological Momentary Assessments and AI-Based Ecological Momentary Interventions Among Young People: Qualitative Interview and Focus Group Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2025Article
- Promoting Well-Being from a Gender Perspective: A Systematic Review of Interventions Using Digital Tools and Serious Games.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Empowering Young Women: A Qualitative Co-Design Study of a Social Media Health Promotion Programme.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Smartphone-based serious games for mental health: a scoping review.Multimedia tools and applications · 2024Article
- Children and Young People's Involvement in Designing Applied Games: Scoping Review.JMIR serious games · 2023Article
- Article
- A systematic review on the efficacy of virtual reality and gamification interventions for managing anxiety and depression.Frontiers in digital health · 2023Review
- Human-Centered Design Approaches in Digital Mental Health Interventions: Exploratory Mapping Review.JMIR mental health · 2022Review
- Developing a Web-Based App to Assess Mental Health Difficulties in Secondary School Pupils: Qualitative User-Centered Design Study.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- Heavy metal pollution and associated health risk assessment of urban dust in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.PloS one · 2022Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on the psychological health of university students in Spain and their attitudes toward Mobile mental health solutions.International journal of medical informatics · 2021Article
- Recommendations for Designing Health Information Technologies for Mental Health Drawn From Self-Determination Theory and Co-design With Culturally Diverse Populations: Template Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Article
- Naturalistic evaluation of a sport-themed mental health and wellbeing app aimed at men (MindMax), that incorporates applied video games and gamification.Internet interventions · 2020Article
- Involving End Users in Adapting a Spanish Version of a Web-Based Mental Health Clinic for Young People in Colombia: Exploratory Study Using Participatory Design Methodologies.JMIR mental health · 2020Article
- Recommendations for Implementing Gamification for Mental Health and Wellbeing.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMen have different mental health needs as compared with women, and women make up the primary audience of most digital mental health interventions. An Australian football-themed (specifically Australian Football League, AFL) app named MindMax incorporating psychoeducation, gamification, mini-games, and social connection was developed in an effort to address this issue.
objectiveThe aim of this study was to identify the best way to structure and present MindMax, an app that aims to deliver psychoeducational modules, and create a Web-based community centering on well-being, AFL, and video games for men aged 16 to 35 years who are interested in AFL or video games.
methodsWe conducted 6 participatory design (PD) workshops with people aged 16 to 35 years in 3 cities in Australia, to identify the best way to present MindMax, and contracted a digital development agency to develop MindMax. We then iteratively tested MindMax prototypes with 15 user experience testing interviews across 3 separate time points: 2 before app launch and 1 after app launch.
resultsA total of 40 individuals (25 male and 15 female) participated in the PD workshops, and a total of 15 individuals (10 male and 5 female) participated in user experience interviews. Broadly, participants expressed a preference for activities requiring active engagement that practiced useful skills. They were also sensitive to how content was presented and wanted the ability to customize their own app experience. Although participants agreed that social motivations were important for engagement with an app, they recommended not to mimic existing social networks.
conclusionsIn basing itself strongly within the AFL subculture and by incorporating gamification as well as mini-games, MindMax aimed to tackle mental health help-seeking barriers for people who enjoy AFL or video games, with a particular emphasis on men, and to provide psychoeducation on strategies to increase mental health and well-being. If MindMax is successful, this would indicate that generalizing this approach to other traditional sporting codes and even competitive video gaming leagues (esports) would be fruitful.
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