Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35588056›Full record

ArticleJMIR serious games2022

Designing a Serious Game (Above Water) for Stigma Reduction Surrounding Mental Health: Semistructured Interview Study With Expert Participants.

Rina R Wehbe, Colin Whaley, Yasaman Eskandari, Ally Suarez, Lennart E Nacke, Jessica Hammer, Edward Lank

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in JMIR serious games, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 20% 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

2 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
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

7 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Rina R WehbeHuman Computer Interaction for Social Good (HCI4GOOD), Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3677-5185
Colin WhaleyThe Games Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9651-1312
Yasaman EskandariMethods Group, Human Computer Interaction Lab, Cheriton School of Computer Science, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7264-1745
Ally SuarezMethods Group, Human Computer Interaction Lab, Cheriton School of Computer Science, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8138-7272
Lennart E NackeThe Games Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4290-8829
Jessica HammerOH! Lab, Human Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4102-2575
Edward LankMethods Group, Human Computer Interaction Lab, Cheriton School of Computer Science, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2760-2370
University of Waterloo · CACarnegie Mellon University · USDalhousie University · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAlthough in many contexts unsuccessful games targeting learning, social interaction, or behavioral change have few downsides, when covering a sensitive domain such as mental health (MH), care must be taken to avoid harm and stigmatization of people who live with MH conditions. As a result, evaluation of the game to identify benefits and risks is crucial in understanding the game's success; however, assessment of these apps is often compared with the nongame control condition, resulting in findings specifically regarding entertainment value and user preferences. Research exploring the design process, integrating field experts, and guidelines for designing a successful serious game for sensitive topics is limited.

objectiveThe aim of this study is to understand which elements of game design can guide a designer when designing a game for sensitive topics.

methodsTo carefully probe the design space of serious games for MH, we present Above Water (AbW), a game targeting the reduction of stigma surrounding MH, now in its second iteration. The game, AbW, serves as a consistent research probe to solicit expert feedback. Experts were recruited from a range of topic domains related to MH and wellness, game design, and user experience.

resultsBy using this deployment as a research probe, this study demonstrates how to synthesize gained insights from multiple expert perspectives and create actionable guidelines for successful design of serious games targeting sensitive topics.

conclusionsOur work contributes to a better understanding of how to design specialized games to address sensitive topics. We present a set of guidelines for designing games for sensitive subjects, and for each guideline, we present an example of how to apply the finding to the sample game (AbW). Furthermore, we demonstrate the generalizability to other sensitive topics by providing an additional example of a game that could be designed with the presented guidelines.

Indexed as

empirical analysisexpert participantsgame designgames for changegames for mental healthhuman–computer interactionsensitive topics

Identifiers

PMID35588056
PMCPMC9164096
OpenAlexW3207862493

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.