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Exploratory evaluations of a computer game supporting cognitive behavioural therapy for adolescents

Published: 07 May 2011 Publication History

Abstract

The need to provide effective mental health treatments for adolescents has been described as a global public health challenge [27]. In this paper we discuss the exploratory evaluations of the first adolescent intervention to fully integrate a computer game implementing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Three distinct studies are presented: a detailed evaluation in which therapists independent of the design team used the game with 6 adolescents experiencing clinical anxiety disorders; a study in which a member of the design team used the game with 15 adolescents; and finally a study assessing the acceptability of the game and intervention with 216 practicing therapists. Findings are presented within the context of a framework for the design and evaluation of complex health interventions. The paper provides an in-depth insight into the use of therapeutic games to support adolescent interventions and provides stronger evidence than previously available for both their effectiveness and acceptability to stakeholders.

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cover image ACM Conferences
CHI '11: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
May 2011
3530 pages
ISBN:9781450302289
DOI:10.1145/1978942
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 07 May 2011

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Author Tags

  1. adolescent mental health
  2. cognitive behavioural therapy
  3. complex health interventions
  4. computer games
  5. evaluations

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CHI '11 Paper Acceptance Rate 410 of 1,532 submissions, 27%;
Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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  • (2024)Key Components and Content of Effective Evidence-Based Digital Prevention Programs for Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Umbrella ReviewAdolescent Research Review10.1007/s40894-024-00237-z9:3(367-410)Online publication date: 18-May-2024
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