Acceptability of an adventure video game in the treatment of female adolescents with symptoms of depression
Open accessAbstract
While many adolescent patients resistantly engage in psychotherapy, they are attracted by new technologies and video games. A development and research project was implemented to design an online adventure video game as a psychotherapeutic tool for depressed adolescents and to evaluate its acceptability. The game design followed the narrative structure of the hero’s journey and ideas from the cognitive behavioral and interpersonal psychotherapy models for depression. Five psychotherapists and fifteen of their female adolescent patients with symptoms of depression tested the game. Some patients valued the video game in terms of learning helpful social and mental health-related behaviors. Therapists manifested that a video game like Maya could be a useful complementary tool for psychotherapy of adolescent girls. The study suggests that future developments of video games for mental health are worthwhile and it provides some ideas on how to incorporate psychotherapeutic notions in ludic environments.
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?
Digital mental health interventions had the advantage of fitting into the daily routines of users, connecting with current interests, and helping to bring back a sense of normality.
“DMHIs also had the advantage of fitting into the daily routines of users, connecting with current interests (40), and helping “to bring back a sense of normality” (36, p. 290).”
From What Works and What Doesn’t Work? A Systematic Review of Digital Mental Health Interventions for Depression and Anxiety in Young People (2019) · cites this paper as [40]
The time of use of the online adventure video game was very low.
“However, the time of use of the game was very low.”
From Internet-Based Interventions for the Prevention and Treatment of Mental Disorders in Latin America: A Scoping Review (2019) · cites this paper as [31]
The majority of participants (patients and therapists) valued the online adventure video game and considered that they could obtain mental health-related benefits from playing it.
“The majority of participants (patients and therapist) valued the game and considered that they could obtain mental health-related benefits from playing it.”
From Internet-Based Interventions for the Prevention and Treatment of Mental Disorders in Latin America: A Scoping Review (2019) · cites this paper as [31]
Therapists suggested that in postgame sessions it was possible to relate elements of the game to aspects of the patients' real lives.
“Therapists also suggest that it was possible in postgame sessions to relate elements of the game to aspects of the patients’ real lives.”
From Internet-Based Interventions for the Prevention and Treatment of Mental Disorders in Latin America: A Scoping Review (2019) · cites this paper as [31]
The design of the online adventure video game study and its small number of participants make it impossible to draw conclusions regarding the effectiveness of the game.
“Nevertheless, the design of the study and the small number of participants make it impossible to draw conclusions regarding the effectiveness of the game.”
From Internet-Based Interventions for the Prevention and Treatment of Mental Disorders in Latin America: A Scoping Review (2019) · cites this paper as [31]
Two pilot studies from Chile showed acceptable online depression treatment programs, including an online video game for adolescents and an online symptom-monitoring program for patients receiving treatment for major depression.
“Two pilot studies from Chile showed acceptable online depression treatment programs, including an online video game for supporting depression treatment among adolescents (31) and an online program for symptom monitoring in patients receiving treatment for major depression (32).”
From Internet-Based Interventions for the Prevention and Treatment of Mental Disorders in Latin America: A Scoping Review (2019) · cites this paper as [31]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis
Hsieh, H.-F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005) · Qualitative Health Research · doi:10.1177/1049732305276687 · Cited by 44,601 · see citing works
Suspending OpenMP Tasks on Asynchronous Events: Extending the Taskwait Construct
Pereira, R., Martin, M., Roussel, A., Carribault, P., & Gautier, T. (2023) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-40744-4_5 · Cited by 13,143 · see citing works
Wolf, M. M. (1978) · Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis · doi:10.1901/jaba.1978.11-203 · Cited by 3,176 · see citing works
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Campbell, J. (1949) · Cited by 2,836 · see citing works
Baranowski, T., Buday, R., Thompson, D. I., & Baranowski, J. (2008) · American Journal of Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2007.09.027 · Cited by 998 · see citing works
(1988) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 932 · see citing works
The prevention of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents: a meta-analytic review
Horowitz, J. L., & Garber, J. (2006) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.74.3.401 · Cited by 803 · see citing works
ACCEPTABILITY OF ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS FOR DEVIANT CHILD BEHAVIOR
Kazdin, A. E. (1980) · Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis · doi:10.1901/jaba.1980.13-259 · Cited by 692 · see citing works
Newman, D. L., Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., Magdol, L., Silva, P. A., & Stanton, W. R. (1996) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.64.3.552 · Cited by 682 · see citing works
Treatment and prevention of depression
Hollon, S. D., Thase, M. E., & Markowitz, J. C. (2002) · Psychological Science in the Public Interest · doi:10.1111/1529-1006.00008 · Cited by 511 · see citing works
Video Games in Health Care: Closing the Gap
Kato, P. M. (2010) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0019441 · Cited by 502 · see citing works
Development of an Instrument To Measure Hope
Miller, J. F., & Powers, M. J. (1988) · Nursing Research · doi:10.1097/00006199-198801000-00002 · Cited by 471 · see citing works
Dickey, M. D. (2006) · Educational Technology Research and Development · doi:10.1007/s11423-006-8806-y · Cited by 321 · see citing works
Rovai, A. P., Wighting, M. J., Baker, J. D., & Grooms, L. D. (2008) · The Internet and Higher Education · doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2008.10.002 · Cited by 287 · see citing works
Report on the educational use of games
McFarlane, A., Sparrowhawk, A., & Heald, Y. (2002) · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) · Cited by 285 · see citing works
Online video game therapy for mental health concerns: a review
Wilkinson, N., Ang, R. P., & Goh, D. H. (2008) · International Journal of Social Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/0020764008091659 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF COGNITIVE-BEHAVIOR THERAPY FOR ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION
Brewin, C. R. (1996) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.47.1.33 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Ceranoglu, T. A. (2010) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0019439 · Cited by 156 · see citing works
The Prevention of Depression in Children and Adolescents: A Review
Gladstone, T. R. G., & Beardslee, W. R. (2009) · The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/070674370905400402 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Personal Investigator: A therapeutic 3D game for adolecscent psychotherapy
Coyle, D., Matthews, M., Sharry, J., Nisbet, A., & Doherty, G. (2005) · Interactive Technology and Smart Education · doi:10.1108/17415650580000034 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Narrative Structures in Computer and Video Games: Part 1: Context, Definitions, and Initial Findings
Ip, B. (2010) · Games and Culture · doi:10.1177/1555412010364982 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Review of Recent Treatment Acceptability Research
Carter, S. L. (2007) · Education and training in developmental disabilities · doi:10.1177/215416470704200306 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Screening for Depression Prevention: Identifying Adolescent Girls at High Risk for Future Depression
Seeley, J., Stice, E., & Rohde, P. (2009) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0014741 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
The Therapeutic Use of Videogames in Childhood and Adolescence
Griffiths, M. D. (2003) · Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/13591045030084012 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Treasure Hunt - a serious game to support psychotherapeutic treatment of children
Brezinka, V. (2008) · PubMed · doi:10.5167/uzh-6907 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
An Evaluation of a Solution Focused Computer Game in Adolescent Interventions
Coyle, D., Doherty, G. J., & Sharry, J. (2009) · Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/1359104508100884 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Video-Game Literacy: A Literacy of Expertise
Wyatt-Smith, C., & Elkins, J. (2014) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781410618894-37 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Video Game Research in Cognitive and Educational Sciences
Rebetez, C., & Bétrancourt, M. (2007) · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Grove, F. D., LOOY, J. V., & Courtois, C. (2010) · Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Treatment of adolescent depression: what we have come to know
Vitiello, B. (2009) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.20572 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Batista, I. V. C., & Cornachione, E. B. (2014) · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Bringing Interactivity into Campbell’s Hero’s Journey
Delmas, G., Champagnat, R., & Augeraud, M. (2007) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-540-77039-8_17 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Moras, K. (2006) · Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1080/10503300600919398 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Hurley, M., & Arcshs. (2002) · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Squire, K. D. (2008) · doi:10.4324/9781410618894.ch23 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Bringing interactivity to Campbell's Hero's Journey
Delmas, G., Champagnat, R., & Augeraud, M. (2007) · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Walkerdine, V. (2007) · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · doi:10.1057/9780230235373_2 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 38 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Davidson, K., Rieckmann, N., & Lespérance, F. (2004). Psycho- logical theories of depression: Potential application for the pre- vention of acute coronary syndrome recurrence. Psychosomatic Medicine, 66(2), 165-173. doi: 10.1097/01.psy. 0000116716.19848. · DOI
- Fernández-Vara, C., & Osterweil, S. (2010). The key to adven- ture games design: Insight and sense-making. Meaningful Play, Conference Proceedings. Available from: meaning- fulplay.msu.edu/proceedings2010/mp2010_paper_25.pdf
- Roth, A., & Fonagy, P. (2005). Depression. In Roth A., & Fon- agy P. (Eds.), What works for whom? (pp. 66-149). New York: The Guilford Press.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Artificial Intelligence-Based Chatbots for Promoting Health Behavioral Changes: Systematic Review.
Aggarwal, A., Tam, C. C., Wu, D., Li, X., & Qiao, S. (2023) · Journal of medical Internet research · doi:10.2196/40789 · Cited by 683 · see citing works
Naslund, J. A., Aschbrenner, K. A., Araya, R., Marsch, L. A., Unützer, J., Patel, V., & Bartels, S. J. (2017) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(17)30096-2 · Cited by 638 · see citing works
Garrido, S., Millington, C., Cheers, D., Boydell, K., Schubert, E., Meade, T., & Nguyen, Q. V. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00759 · Cited by 400 · see citing works
“DMHIs also had the advantage of fitting into the daily routines of users, connecting with current interests (40), and helping “to bring back a sense of normality” (36, p.”
BackgroundInfluentialLópez-Fernández, O., Williams, A. J., Griffiths, M. D., & Kuss, D. J. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00454 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Wozney, L., Huguet, A., Bennett, K., Radomski, A. D., Hartling, L., Dyson, M., McGrath, P. J., & Newton, A. S. (2017) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.7573 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
“Features perceived as unacceptable to adolescents include games that are not engaging or interactive, sections that are difficult to navigate, and video streaming that lags [53,55].”
Jiménez-Molina, Á., Franco, P., Martínez, V., Martínez, P., Rojas, G., & Araya, R. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00664 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
“Carrasco (2016) (31)/Chile Adolescents in treatment for depression Private and public health centers 12–18 years old Patients N = 15; Therapists N = 5 Depression symptomatology reduction (therapeutic resource) Pilot feasibility and acceptability study Postintervention Maya is an online adventure video game used for de…”
BackgroundInfluentialHalldorsson, B., Hill, C., Waite, P., Partridge, K., Freeman, D., & Creswell, C. (2021) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/jcpp.13400 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
“They were conducted with children and young people with elevated symptoms of depression (Carrasco, 2016; Fleming et al., 2012, 2016; Merry et al., 2012; Stasiak et al., 2014) or admitted for severe psychiatric disorder including depression (Bobier et al., 2013).”
InfluentialTherapeutic Use of Role-Playing Game (RPG) in Mental Health: A Scoping Review
Arenas, D. L., Viduani, A. C., & Araújo, R. B. (2022) · Simulation & Gaming · doi:10.1177/10468781211073720 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Rojas, G., Martínez, V., Martínez, P., Franco, P., & Jiménez-Molina, Á. (2019) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2019.00391 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Martínez, K., Menéndez, I. M., & Bustillo, A. (2021) · JMIR Serious Games · doi:10.2196/30482 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Ferrari, M., Sabetti, J., McIlwaine, S. V., Fazeli, S., Sadati, S. M. H., Shah, J. L., Archie, S., Boydell, K., Lal, S., Henderson, J. L., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Digital Health · doi:10.3389/fdgth.2022.814248 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Implementation of e‐mental health for depression and anxiety: A critical scoping review
Ellis, L. A., Augustsson, H., Grødahl, A. I., Pomare, C., Churruca, K., Long, J. C., Ludlow, K., Zurynski, Y. A., & Braithwaite, J. (2020) · Journal of Community Psychology · doi:10.1002/jcop.22309 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Newton, A. S., March, S., Gehring, N. D., Rowe, A., & Radomski, A. D. (2021) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/25012 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Therapeutic Interventions with Videogames in Treatments for Depression: A Systematic Review
Gliosci, R., & Silva, T. B. P. E. (2023) · Games for Health Journal · doi:10.1089/g4h.2022.0094 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Introduction of Technology to Support Young People’s Care and Mental Health—A Rapid Evidence Review
Ramshaw, G., McKeown, A., Lee, R., Conlon, A., Brown, D., & Kennedy, P. J. (2022) · Child & Youth Care Forum · doi:10.1007/s10566-022-09700-1 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Closing the global gap in adolescent mental health
(2024) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41591-024-02846-6 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Reitegger, F., Peras, I., Wright, M., & Gasteiger‐Klicpera, B. (2024) · Adolescent Research Review · doi:10.1007/s40894-024-00237-z · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Ahmed, F., Carrión, J. R., Bellotti, F., Barresi, G., Floris, F., & Berta, R. (2023) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app13084706 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Ghosh, A., Agnihotri, J., Bhalotia, S., Sati, B. K., Agarwal, L., Akash, A., Tandon, S., Meena, K., Raj, S., Azad, Y., et al. (2023) · JMIR Serious Games · doi:10.2196/37105 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Socio-Economic Decision Making and Emotion Elicitation with a Serious Game in the Wild
Ahmed, F. S., Berta, R., Bellotti, F., Lazzaroni, L., Floris, F., Barresi, G., & Carrión, J. R. (2023) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app13116432 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Hamdani, S. U., Huma, Z., & Wissow, L. S. (2022) · Implementation Science Communications · doi:10.1186/s43058-022-00343-w · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Gómez-Cambronero, Á., Casteleyn, S., Bretón-López, J., García-Palacios, A., & Mira, A. (2023) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2023.100624 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Mira, A., Farfallini, L., Baños, R., Bretón-López, J. M., & Botella, C. (2016) · Psicodebate · doi:10.18682/pd.v16i2.597 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Video Games and Their Impact on Teens’ Mental Health
DeRosier, M. E., & Thomas, J. M. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-69638-6_17 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Salcuni, S., Capella, C., & Lis, A. (2016) · Research in Psychotherapy Psychopathology Process and Outcome · doi:10.4081/ripppo.2015.211 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Öz Belirleme Kuramı Temelinde Bir Müdahale Aracı Olarak Video Oyunları
Sevinçli, M. C., & Eger, M. (2022) · Psikiyatride Guncel Yaklasimlar - Current Approaches in Psychiatry · doi:10.18863/pgy.974968 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Understanding the Social Dividends and Risks for Female Gamers in Online Spaces
O'Keeffe, E., Riordan, E., Loudoun, F. M., & Boyle, B. (2022) · Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play · doi:10.1145/3505270.3558347 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Preliminary Results from a Systematic Review of Narrative Game-based Interventions for Mental Health
Devasia, N., Espinosa-Briones, J., & Kientz, J. A. (2025) · doi:10.26503/dl.v2025i3.2534 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Playing for Wellness: A Diary Study of Videogame Usage and Adolescent Wellbeing
Munteanu, A., Mo, W., Potapov, K., George, L., Miller, I. G., & Singh, A. (2026) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3791837 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Psychotherapeutic Tool for Addressing Depression in Teenagers Through Video Games
Arogundade, O. '., Akanni, A., Misra, S., Mustapha, A. M., Ogunremi, K., Ayo, T., & Oluranti, J. (2022) · Lecture notes in networks and systems · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-96305-7_45 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Videogames na psicoterapia: uma revisão quase sistemática da literatura
Castro, T. C., Yamaura, L. P. M., & Haydu, V. B. (2024) · CES Psicología · doi:10.21615/cesp.7084 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Ontwikkelingen binnen de cognitieve gedragstherapie bij kinderen en adolescenten
Bosmans, G. R. A., & Braet, C. (2018) · Bohn Stafleu van Loghum eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-90-368-1972-5_11
Chapter 3: Theory, Central Concepts, and Inspirational Materials
Diakolambrianou, E., Bowman, S. L., Brind, S., Westborg, J., & Hugaas, K. H. (2025) · Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis eBooks · doi:10.33063/xjq2gm46
A Systematic Review of Narrative Game-based Interventions for Mental Health
Devasia, N., Espinosa-Briones, J., & Kientz, J. A. (2026) · ACM Transactions on Computing for Healthcare · doi:10.1145/3807448
- Authors
- Carrasco, A. E.
- Venue
- Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome
- Publisher
- PAGEPress Publications
- Published
- 2016-04-18
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 2239-8031 (ISSN-L)
- 2499-7552
- OpenAlex
- W2341756395
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 5.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Research in Psychotherapy Psychopathology Process and Outcome (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Universidad de Chile (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- Universidad de Chile
- Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Keywords
- adolescent depression, adolescent girls, acceptability, cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, online games, mental health technology, therapist perspectives
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
