Video Game Play to Alleviate Adolescent Anxiety

School of Health Sciences Geneva

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Anxiety Disorders and Symptoms; Anxiety

Treatments: Behavioral: Bejelewed 3; Behavioral: Eco-Rescue

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05923944

10001C_212812

Details and patient eligibility

About

Adolescence is a critical period for the onset and maintenance of anxiety disorders, which raises the importance of intervening early; one possibility of doing so is via digital interventions. At least two lines of research have been explored in the past years in this area. First, studies have tested the anxiolytic effects of casual video games, hypothesizing that, through the induction of flow, these games can effectively distract individuals from anxiety-related thoughts and feelings. Second, the bidirectional link between poor attentional control and higher anxiety has led to the design of novel interventions aiming to improve attentional control such as working memory training studies. Importantly, action video games, classified as a distinct gaming genre, have been shown to enhance attentional control. In this study, we aim to compare the effects of action video game play and casual game play to a no-training group, assessing their potential to alleviate anxiety when delivered entirely online. The goal of this three- arms randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the feasibility of a 6-week video game training intervention to reduce adolescent anxiety-related symptoms. We will also examine the efficacy of the proposed treatment when entirely deployed at adolescents' home.

Enrollment: 150 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 11 to 15 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Adolescents aged 11-15 years
2. High-anxious score from the 41 items SCARED-Parent version (i.e. total score equal or above 17)
3. Access to a computer (at least Windows 7 or Mac OSX) at home and a reliable internet connection

Exclusion criteria

1. DSM diagnoses of Bipolar, Psychosis, Autism Spectrum Disorder, present or past.
2. Neurological injury (i.e. head injury)
3. Currently enrolled in another cognitive training intervention

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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150 participants in 3 patient groups

Eco-Rescue - Attentional Control - intervention

Experimental group

Description:

The Eco-Rescue training intervention will be delivered through a dedicated video game installed on each participant's personal computer through the Steam platform, following a recommended training regimen of 30 minutes per day, 4 days per week for 6 weeks, for an expected total training duration of 12 hours.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Eco-Rescue

Bejeweled 3 - Casual gaming - intervention

Experimental group

Description:

The Bejeweled 3 training intervention will be delivered through a dedicated video game installed on each participant's personal computer through the Steam platform, following a recommended training regimen of 30 minutes per day, 4 days per week for 6 weeks, for an expected total training duration of 12 hours.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Bejelewed 3

No-training intervention

No Intervention group

Description:

The No-training intervention group does not involve any specific training program. Instead, participants assigned to this group will receive weekly phone calls, similar to the other groups, to answer the same questions as the other groups concerning their mental and emotional states and maintain regular contact throughout the 6-week study duration.