The Efficacy of Casual Videogame Play in Reducing Clinical - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Efficacy of Casual Videogame Play in Reducing Clinical Depression: A Randomized Controlled Study Carmen V. Russoniello, PhD,1 Matthew Fish, MS,1 and Kevin O’Brien, PhD2 Arnold Cieremans - 2545954

What is this about? - depression is a big problem, also why videogames - PHQ-9, 1 month, games vs control - interesting results

Why research? - depression, worldwide problem, 300 million, causes disability - medication is a costly solution, not everybody has access - studies about medication & therapy, not on activities & mood - casual videogames (CVG); fun, easy to access, easy to learn and no required skill, no commitment - research on games - exercise and rehabilitation - SPARX - the main question; can CVGs help reduce depression symptoms?

How it was done - participants; word of mouth, flyers - instruments; patient health questionnaire (PHQ)-9 - primary care evaluation of mental disorders (PRIME-MD) - statistics - the scales; 0-4=none, 5-9=mild, 10-14=moderate, 15-19=moderately severe, 20-27=severe - research; administer the PHQ-9 - control group; surf the National institute of mental healths website. experimental group; play CVGs (3 choices) - same conditions - 2 lab sessions, 1 month at home (3x30, 24 hour rest)

Research results - 59 out of 85, 30 female & 29 male, overall age 18 - 74 experimental group: 70% EA, 26,7% AA, 3,3% A control group: 65,5% EA, 20,7% AA, 6,9 LA - medication had no influence - 30 minutes minimum, 68 maximum, 40,7 average - 17 played Bejeweled 2, 9 played Peggle, 4 played Book Adventures - minimum of PHQ-9 score 5; experimental group mean was 11, control group mean was 10,7 - groups were found different after the intervention, success! - no difference at the baseline (first lab), significant difference at the control points - 7 subjects moderate severe -> minor or minimal, minor dropped from 9 to 4 - lower depression symptoms for male participants - better results on participants 26 years and younger

Discussion - CVGs can be a useful tool; more research is needed to maximize the effect - CVGs are found to cause no harm and are accepted as a treatment - potential research shortcoming; based on self report, always a possibility that people lie - participants might not have liked the game - how do developers know how to make an effective game?