scholarly journals Awareness, Prevention, Detection, and Therapy Applications for Depression and Anxiety in Serious Games for Children and Adolescents: Systematic Review

10.2196/30482 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. e30482
Author(s):  
Kim Martinez ◽  
Maria Isabel Menéndez-Menéndez ◽  
Andres Bustillo
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Major Health ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Open Line ◽  
The Common

Background Depression and anxiety in children and adolescents are major health problems worldwide. In recent years, serious games research has advanced in the development of tools to address these mental health conditions. However, there has not been an extensive analysis of these games, their tendencies, and capacities. Objective This review aims to gather the most current serious games, published from 2015 to 2020, with a new approach focusing on their applications: awareness, prevention, detection, and therapy. The purpose is also to analyze the implementation, development, and evaluation of these tools to obtain trends, strengths, and weaknesses for future research lines. Methods The identification of the serious games through a literature search was conducted on the databases PubMed, Scopus, Wiley, Taylor and Francis, Springer, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, Web of Science, and Science Direct. The identified records were screened to include only the manuscripts meeting these criteria: a serious game for PC, smartphone, or virtual reality; developed by research teams; targeting only depression or anxiety or both; aiming specifically at children or adolescents. Results A total of 34 studies have been found that developed serious games for PC, smartphone, and virtual reality devices and tested them in children and adolescents. Most of the games address both conditions and are applied in prevention and therapy. Nevertheless, there is a trend that anxiety is targeted more in childhood and depression targeted more in adolescence. Regarding design, the game genres arcade minigames, adventure worlds, and social simulations are used, in this order. For implementation, these serious games usually require sessions of 1 hour and are most often played using a PC. Moreover, the common evaluation tools are normalized questionnaires that measure acquisition of skills or reduction of symptoms. Most studies collect and compare these data before and after the participants play. Conclusions The results show that more awareness and detection games are needed, as well as games that mix the awareness, prevention, detection, and therapy applications. In addition, games for depression and anxiety should equally target all age ranges. For future research, the development and evaluation of serious games should be standardized, so the implementation of serious games as tools would advance. The games should always offer support while playing, in addition to collecting data on participant behavior during the game to better analyze their learning. Furthermore, there is an open line regarding the use of virtual reality for these games due to the capabilities offered by this technology.

scholarly journals Awareness, Prevention, Detection, and Therapy Applications for Depression and Anxiety in Serious Games for Children and Adolescents: Systematic Review (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Martinez ◽  
Maria Isabel Menéndez-Menéndez ◽  
Andres Bustillo
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Major Health ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Open Line ◽  
The Common

BACKGROUND Depression and anxiety in children and adolescents are major health problems worldwide. In recent years, serious games research has advanced in the development of tools to address these mental health conditions. However, there has not been an extensive analysis of these games, their tendencies, and capacities. OBJECTIVE This review aims to gather the most current serious games, published from 2015 to 2020, with a new approach focusing on their applications: awareness, prevention, detection, and therapy. The purpose is also to analyze the implementation, development, and evaluation of these tools to obtain trends, strengths, and weaknesses for future research lines. METHODS The identification of the serious games through a literature search was conducted on the databases PubMed, Scopus, Wiley, Taylor and Francis, Springer, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, Web of Science, and Science Direct. The identified records were screened to include only the manuscripts meeting these criteria: a serious game for PC, smartphone, or virtual reality; developed by research teams; targeting only depression or anxiety or both; aiming specifically at children or adolescents. RESULTS A total of 34 studies have been found that developed serious games for PC, smartphone, and virtual reality devices and tested them in children and adolescents. Most of the games address both conditions and are applied in prevention and therapy. Nevertheless, there is a trend that anxiety is targeted more in childhood and depression targeted more in adolescence. Regarding design, the game genres arcade minigames, adventure worlds, and social simulations are used, in this order. For implementation, these serious games usually require sessions of 1 hour and are most often played using a PC. Moreover, the common evaluation tools are normalized questionnaires that measure acquisition of skills or reduction of symptoms. Most studies collect and compare these data before and after the participants play. CONCLUSIONS The results show that more awareness and detection games are needed, as well as games that mix the awareness, prevention, detection, and therapy applications. In addition, games for depression and anxiety should equally target all age ranges. For future research, the development and evaluation of serious games should be standardized, so the implementation of serious games as tools would advance. The games should always offer support while playing, in addition to collecting data on participant behavior during the game to better analyze their learning. Furthermore, there is an open line regarding the use of virtual reality for these games due to the capabilities offered by this technology.

scholarly journals Clinical instructors’ perceptions of virtual reality in health professionals’ cardiopulmonary resuscitation education

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 205031211879960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Ann Mae En Wong ◽  
Shien Chue ◽  
Michelle Jong ◽  
Ho Wye Kei Benny ◽  
Nabil Zary
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ◽  
Clinical Education ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Memory Enhancement ◽  
Current Health ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Before And After ◽  
And Performance

Objectives: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is lifesaving. Yet, cardiac arrest survival remains low despite CPR intervention. Education has been highlighted as a strategy to overcome this issue. Virtual Reality technology has been gaining momentum in the field of clinical education. Published studies report benefits of virtual reality for CPR education; yet, perceptions of CPR instructors towards virtual reality remain unexplored. CPR instructors are key stakeholders in CPR education and their perceptions are valuable for the design and adoption of virtual reality-enhanced learning. The purpose of this study is therefore to understand the perceptions of CPR instructors towards using virtual reality for health professionals’ CPR education. The aim was addressed via three research questions: (1) What are the perceptions of CPR instructors towards current health professionals’ CPR education? (2) What are the perceptions of CPR instructors towards features of virtual reality ideal for health professionals’ CPR education? (3) What are the perceptions of CPR instructors towards the potential role of virtual reality in health professionals’ CPR education? Methods: A total of 30 CPR instructors were surveyed on their views towards current health professionals’ CPR education and the use of virtual reality for health professionals’ CPR education, before and after interacting with a CPR virtual reality simulation. Responses were analysed using interpretative thematic analysis. Results: CPR instructors perceived current health professionals’ CPR education as limited due to unideal test preparation (resources, practice, motivation, and frame of mind) and performance. They perceived fidelity, engagement, resource conservation, and memory enhancement as features of virtual reality ideal for health professionals’ CPR education. Virtual reality was viewed by CPR instructors as having potential as a blended learning tool, targeting both ‘novice’ and ‘experienced’ health professionals. Conclusion: The study highlighted the gaps in current health professionals’ CPR education that can be addressed using virtual-reality-enabled learning. Future research could investigate virtual reality simulations with features desirable for CPR education of target populations.

scholarly journals Serious games, a game changer in teaching neonatal resuscitation? A review

2019 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simran K Ghoman ◽  
Siddhi D Patel ◽  
Maria Cutumisu ◽  
Patrick von Hauff ◽  
Thomas Jeffery ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Newborn Infants ◽  
Neonatal Resuscitation ◽  
Knowledge Retention ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cochrane Central Register ◽  
Board Games

BackgroundNeonatal healthcare professionals require frequent simulation-based education (SBE) to improve their cognitive, psychomotor and communication skills during neonatal resuscitation. However, current SBE approaches are resource-intensive and not routinely offered in all healthcare facilities. Serious games (board and computer based) may be effective and more accessible alternatives.ObjectiveTo review the current literature about serious games, and how these games might improve knowledge retention and skills in neonatal healthcare professionals.MethodLiterature searches of PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, CINAHL, Web of Science and EMBASE databases were performed to identify studies examining serious games in neonatology. All games, such as board games, tabletop games, video games, screen-based simulators, tabletop simulators and virtual reality games were included.ResultsTwelve serious games were included in this review (four board games, five video games and three virtual reality games). Overall, knowledge improvement was reported for the RETAIN (REsuscitationTrAINing for healthcare professionals) board game (10% increase in knowledge retention) and The Neonatology Game (4.15 points higher test score compared with control). Serious games are increasingly incorporated into Nursing and Medical School Curriculums to reinforce theoretical and practical learning.ConclusionsSerious games have the potential to improve healthcare professionals’ knowledge, skills and adherence to the resuscitation algorithm and could enhance access to SBE in resource-intensive and resource-limited areas. Future research should examine important clinical outcomes in newborn infants.

scholarly journals A Virtual Reality Environment Using Concepts of Serious Games and Gamification for the Treatment of Eating Disorders

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francielly Rodrigues ◽  
Priscila Wilbert ◽  
José Carlos Tavares Da Silva ◽  
Jauvane C. De Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Virtual Reality Environment ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Food Avoidance ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Common Strategy ◽  
Body Image Disturbances

An eating disorder is a disturb characterized by an atypical eating behavior. The most common strategy for treatment is CBT, and its limitations have shown to be overcome using virtual reality approaches. Most VR envi- ronments created for this purpose reproduce tasks for treatment of body image disturbances and food avoidance. This work presents a new approach for eating disorders treatment using VR and concepts of serious games and gamification, which have been shown of promising potential in health context due to its ad- vantages when compared to other approaches. Tests assessing the usability and sense of presence in the virtual environment were applied to a group of 10 par- ticipants, indicating that the environment is well suited for medical treatment.

scholarly journals Restore or get restored: The effect of control on stress reduction and restoration in virtual nature settings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Reese ◽  
Elias Kohler ◽  
Claudia Menzel
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Control Beliefs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Before And After ◽  
And Control

Virtual nature experiences can improve physiological and psychological well-being. While there is ample research on the positive effects of nature, both in virtual and physical settings, we know little about potential moderators of restoration effects in virtual reality settings. According to theories of needs and control beliefs, it is plausible to assume that control over one’s actions affects how people respond to nature experiences. In this Virtual Reality (VR) experiment, 64 participants could either actively navigate through a VR landscape or they were navigated by the experimenter. We measured their perceived stress, mood, and vitality before and after the VR experience, as well as subjective restoration outcome and perceived restorativeness of the landscape afterwards. Results revealed that participants’ positive affective states increased after the VR experience, regardless of control. There was also a main effect such that participants reported lower stress after the VR experience – however, qualified by an interaction showing that this was only the case in the “no control” condition. These results suggest that - unexpectedly - active VR experiences may be more stressful than passive ones, opening pathways for future research on how handling of and navigating in VR can attenuate effects of virtual nature.

scholarly journals Exposure to a Standardized Catastrophic Scenario in Virtual Reality or a Personalized Scenario in Imagination for Generalized Anxiety Disorder

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya Guitard ◽  
Stéphane Bouchard ◽  
Claude Bélanger ◽  
Maxine Berthiaume
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Behavioral Treatment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Behavioral Treatment ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Randomized Control

The cognitive behavioral treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) often involves exposing patients to a catastrophic scenario depicting their most feared worry. The aim of this study was to examine whether a standardized scenario recreated in virtual reality (VR) would elicit anxiety and negative affect and how it compared to the traditional method of imagining a personalized catastrophic scenario. A sample of 28 participants were first exposed to a neutral non-catastrophic scenario and then to a personalized scenario in imagination or a standardized virtual scenario presented in a counterbalanced order. The participants completed questionnaires before and after each immersion. The results suggest that the standardized virtual scenario induced significant anxiety. No difference was found when comparing exposure to the standardized scenario in VR and exposure to the personalized scenario in imagination. These findings were specific to anxiety and not to the broader measure of negative affect. Individual differences in susceptibility to feel present in VR was a significant predictor of increase in anxiety and negative affect. Future research could use these scenarios to conduct a randomized control trial to test the efficacy and cost/benefits of using VR in the treatment of GAD.

scholarly journals Restore or Get Restored: The Effect of Control on Stress Reduction and Restoration in Virtual Nature Settings

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1995
Author(s):  
Gerhard Reese ◽  
Elias Kohler ◽  
Claudia Menzel
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Control Beliefs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Before And After ◽  
And Control

Virtual nature experiences can improve physiological and psychological well-being. Although there is ample research on the positive effects of nature, both in virtual and physical settings, we know little about potential moderators of restoration effects in virtual reality settings. According to theories of needs and control beliefs, it is plausible to assume that control over one’s actions affects how people respond to nature experiences. In this virtual reality (VR) experiment, 64 participants either actively navigated through a VR landscape or they were navigated by the experimenter. We measured their perceived stress, mood, and vitality before and after the VR experience as well as the subjective restoration outcome and the perceived restorativeness of the landscape afterwards. Results revealed that participants’ positive affective states increased after the VR experience, regardless of control. There was a main effect such that participants reported lower stress after the VR experience; however, this was qualified by an interaction showing that this result was only the case in the no control condition. These results unexpectedly suggest that active VR experiences may be more stressful than passive ones, opening pathways for future research on how handling of and navigating in VR can attenuate the effects of virtual nature.

scholarly journals CLINICO-DEMOGRAPHIC PATTERNS OF DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 398-402
Author(s):  
Anamaria Ciubara ◽  
◽  
Roxana Chirita ◽  
Stefan Lucian Burlea ◽  
Ancuta Ignat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Significant Influence ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Pediatric Population ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
The Third ◽  
Demographic Patterns ◽  
Prevention Methods

In both adults and pediatric population, depression is a major disability cause; suicide is the third death cause among children and adolescents. Whereas depression and depression with associated anxiety are among the most common psychiatric pathologies in children and adolescents (with strong impact on their global functionality and with a significant influence on their development process), they are far from studied thoroughly. This study aims to highlight certain demographic and clinical patterns associated to depression of anxiety in children and adolescents, which may represent premises for broader future research and for the consolidation of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention methods.

scholarly journals THE POST-PANDEMIC CHALLENGE: DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSNATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMME IN VIETNAM

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-95
Author(s):  
Nam Phuong Phung ◽  
Huynh Nguyen Bui
Keyword(s):  
Education Programme ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Transnational Education ◽  
High Quality Education ◽  
Research Orientation ◽  
The World ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Challenging Situation ◽  
To Receive

The world is facing a severe pandemic that has made millions of students who are experiencing depression and anxiety with their study abroad search for alternatives. One possible solution lies in transnational education programmes that provide high-quality education for students who would like to receive a foreign qualification without leaving their hometown. Transnational education, albeit quite popular all over the world, has been much less known in Vietnam. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a better understanding of transnational education programmes and suggests further research possibilities for the development of transnational education in Vietnam in the post-pandemic period of COVID-19. In theory, this study proposes future research orientation of development trends of transnational education programmes in Vietnam before and after the pandemic. In practice, the research provides measures to be taken for high-rank managers of transnational education providers regarding how to deal with this challenging situation.

scholarly journals A review of immersive virtual reality serious games to enhance learning and training

2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 5501-5527 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Checa ◽  
Andres Bustillo
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Evaluation Procedure ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
End User ◽  
Knowledge Area ◽  
Software And Hardware ◽  
Training Methodologies ◽  
And Training

AbstractThe merger of game-based approaches and Virtual Reality (VR) environments that can enhance learning and training methodologies have a very promising future, reinforced by the widespread market-availability of affordable software and hardware tools for VR-environments. Rather than passive observers, users engage in those learning environments as active participants, permitting the development of exploration-based learning paradigms. There are separate reviews of VR technologies and serious games for educational and training purposes with a focus on only one knowledge area. However, this review covers 135 proposals for serious games in immersive VR-environments that are combinations of both VR and serious games and that offer end-user validation. First, an analysis of the forum, nationality, and date of publication of the articles is conducted. Then, the application domains, the target audience, the design of the game and its technological implementation, the performance evaluation procedure, and the results are analyzed. The aim here is to identify the factual standards of the proposed solutions and the differences between training and learning applications. Finally, the study lays the basis for future research lines that will develop serious games in immersive VR-environments, providing recommendations for the improvement of these tools and their successful application for the enhancement of both learning and training tasks.

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