Games for Young Daredevils - Development of a digital game-based health intervention

Games for Young Daredevils – Development of a digital game-based health intervention

Tuesday 24/05 14:00-15:30h

Outdoor Area A

Abstract

In the research project SOLVE, psychologists and game designers are jointly developing a digital game-based intervention to prevent harmful substance use and risk-behavior and promote self-regulation for adolescents between the ages of 13 and 16. The intervention is targeted at adolescents with increased impulsivity and/or sensation seeking. The combination of a personality-focused prevention approach with a medium that is popular among adolescents – digital games – requires an intensive interdisciplinary examination of various aspects of the target group and the medium.

Based on the project, the development of an intervention tailored to the usage behavior and preferences of this target group will be presented. In a user-centered design approach, adolescents and professionals from different settings (youth services, addiction services, psychiatry, school) are involved from the conceptualization to the first impact evaluation. It will be discussed what researchers should pay attention to when designing studies using serious games in prevention work with young people. The audience will be introduced to the underlying design principles and game mechanisms from a game design and psychological perspective.

Needs Analysis

PhD candidates in TEL/EdTech often will have to work with people from other disciplines to develop and/or evaluate the technological products and the studies to examine them scientifically. Different Stakeholders’ interests have to be integrated. PhD candidates need to understand the principles and methods to do user research within this interdisciplinary context. This workshop provides thorough insight into how game design and psychological expertise and methods are brought together in the context of an iterative production process and scientific evaluation of the initial efficacy of the developed intervention.

Learning Objectives

The participants will learn how research questions concerning health promotion and game design can be scientifically examined. They will also get an understanding of the complexity of the interdisciplinary development of a hybrid (digital & face-to-face) behavior change intervention including participatory research and user-centered design. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods as well as research standards (ethics, study designs) will be taught in this workshop.

Pre-activities

None.

Session Description

The workshop will include presentation of slides and interactive discussions. The development of the intervention simultaneously follows health-psychological as well as game-design goals and considers a later implementation in different practice contexts. Specific challenges and approaches are presented and discussed with the audience.

Post-activities

Literature recommendations:

• Murray, E., Hekler, E. B., Andersson, G., Collins, L. M., Doherty, A., Hollis, C., Rivera, D. E., West, R., & Wyatt, J. C. (2016). Evaluating Digital Health Interventions: Key questions and approaches. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 51(5), 843–851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2016.06.008
• Abraham, Charles; Michie, Susan (2008): A taxonomy of behavior change techniques used in interventions. In: Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association 27 (3), S. 379–387. DOI: 10.1037/0278-6133.27.3.379.
• Guardiola, E., Czauderna, A., Samur, Y., 2019. Player-Centred Educational Game Design. The Case of Antura and the Letters. pp. 179–200.
• Guardiola, E., Natkin, S., 2015. A Game Design Methodology for Generating a Psychological Profile of Players, in: Loh, C.S., Sheng, Y., Ifenthaler, D. (Eds.), Serious Games Analytics: Methodologies for Performance Measurement, Assessment, and Improvement, Advances in Game-Based Learning. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 363–380. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05834-4_16
• Csikszentmihalyi, M., 2008. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, New York.
• Fullerton, T., Swain, C. (Eds.), 2008. Game Design Workshop (Second Edition), Gama Network Series. Morgan Kaufmann, Boston, pp. xv–xvi. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-240-80974-8.50003-8
• Gee, J.P., 2007. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Second Edition: Revised and Updated Edition. St. Martin’s Publishing Group.