Using a Videogame Intervention to Reduce Anxiety and Externalizing Problems among Youths in Residential Care: an Initial Randomized Controlled Trial
Open accessAbstract
Residential care is among the most intensive forms of treatment in youth care. It serves youths with severe behavioral problems and is primarily focused on targeting externalizing problems. Despite best efforts, effect sizes remain moderate, which may be due to the disregarding of internalizing symptoms – in particular anxiety - and to limitations regarding the delivery model of interventions. This initial randomized controlled trial ( n = 37) aimed to examine the effectiveness of a biofeedback videogame intervention ( Dojo ) as an addition to treatment as usual for youths with and without intellectual disability (ID) in residential care with clinical levels of anxiety and externalizing problems. Dojo targets both anxiety and externalizing problems, and incorporates the principles of conventional treatment, while addressing its limitations. Youths were randomly assigned to play Dojo (eight 30-min gameplay sessions) or to treatment as usual (TAU). Measurements of anxiety and externalizing problems were conducted at baseline, posttreatment, and 4-months follow-up through youths’ self-report and mentor-report. Completers-only analyses revealed decreases in self-reported anxiety and externalizing problems, and mentor-reported anxiety at posttreatment for participants in the Dojo condition compared to the control condition. Only mentor-reported anxiety was maintained at follow-up. No effect was found for mentor-reported externalizing problems. These findings provided preliminary evidence that Dojo is a promising, innovative intervention that engages high-risk youths. Practical implications are discussed.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
'Dojo,' using biofeedback and relaxation techniques to promote emotional regulation, was shown to significantly decrease participants' anxiety and aggressive behaviour scores postintervention but exhibited no long-term effects at a 4-month follow-up.
“‘Dojo,’ using biofeedback and relaxation techniques to promote emotional regulation, was shown to significantly decrease participants’ anxiety and aggressive behaviour scores postintervention but exhibited no long-term effects at a 4-month follow-up.43”
From Mixed-methods feasibility outcomes for a novel ACT-based video game ‘ACTing Minds’ to support mental health (2024) · cites this paper as [43]
Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 1 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPrior research has primarily focused on video game DHIs targeting 'illbeing' that aim to reduce symptoms of mental illness, two examples are games 'REThink' and 'Dojo'.
“Prior research has primarily focused on video game DHIs targeting ‘illbeing’ that aim to reduce symptoms of mental illness, two examples are games ‘REThink’ and ‘Dojo’.”
From Mixed-methods feasibility outcomes for a novel ACT-based video game ‘ACTing Minds’ to support mental health (2024) · cites this paper as [43]
The Introduction identifies Dojo as a videogame intervention targeting anxiety and externalizing problems, so it supports Dojo as an example of a game aimed at reducing mental-health symptoms. The paper does not establish that prior videogame interventions primarily focused on ‘illbeing,’ and our copy does not identify REThink as another example (searched: REThink and prior research focus). (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 58 · Cited by 47
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Harder AT Knorth EJ Zandberg T Residential youth care in the picture: A review study of its target group, methods, and outcomes 2006 Amsterdam SWP Publishers
- Binsbergen, M. H. van (2003). Motivatie voor behandeling: Ontwikkeling van behandelmotivatie in een justitiële instelling (Motivation for treatment. Development of treatment motivation in juvenile justice institutions). University of Leiden: Doctoral dissertation.
- Authors
- Schuurmans, A. A. T., Nijhof, K. S., Engels, R. C. M. E., & Granic, I.
- Affiliations
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Schuurmans, Angela A. T.
- Venue
- Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment
- Published
- 2017-11-29
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 344-354
- ISSN
- 0164-0305 (ISSN-L)
- 0882-2689
- 1573-3505
- PMC
- PMC5978838
- OpenAlex
- W2768414011
- Cited by
- 47
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 3.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Radboud University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Therapy and Development
- Keywords
- biofeedback, anxiety, externalizing problems, residential care, youth care, intellectual disability, dojo, internalizing problems, usual care, at-risk youth
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
