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Publication
Symphony. Alleviating depression symptoms through science based video gaming
| Name: | Description: | Size: | Format: | |
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| 4.42 MB | Adobe PDF |
Authors
Abstract(s)
A depressão representa um grande encargo econômico na Europa e em todo o mundo, é
esperado que se torne a segunda doença mental mais comum em todo o mundo até 2020.
Os tratamentos de primeira linha incluem medicação e psicoterapia, os quais podem
produzir efeitos colaterais indesejáveis, ou serem ineficazes por várias razões que vão da
escassez de profissionais treinados, até ao desconforto dos pacientes com os resultados.
Terapias alternativas, como a música e terapias baseadas em tecnologia, têm sido
propostas como tratamentos alternativos. Esta tese propõe o uso de um jogo casual afim
de ajudar pessoas com sintomatologia depressiva. Foi realizado um estudo inicial com
uma amostra de indivíduos com sintomas de depressão, leve a moderada, para entender a
sua relação com videojogos, tendências de jogos e qual o tipo preferido de jogos.
Concluímos que jogando no seu tempo livre, sozinhos e num computador ou dispositivo
móvel tiveram maior preferência. Com base na informação coletada, criamos um jogo
para dispositivos móveis chamado Symphony, baseado em resolver puzzles e audição
musical, como meio de fornecer dicas para o bem-estar mental. Tentamos também
promover a estimulação cognitiva, a melhoria de humor, e estratégias de regulação de
emoções. Um teste de usabilidade foi realizado com 5 indivíduos da população geral para
testar sua jogabilidade, onde eles preencheram questionários pré e pós-intervenção para
avaliar seu humor e perceção do jogo. Uma experiência final foi realizada com uma
amostra da população-alvo de 8 voluntários, que também completaram questionários pré
e pós-intervenção para avaliar o impacto de jogar Symphony em seus níveis de depressão,
humor e também para conhecer sua perceção do jogo. Os dados dos questionários e os
comentários e observações informais dos terapeutas, revelaram respostas emocionais
positivas e mudanças de humor resultantes de jogar Symphony. As quais, sugerem
melhorias para tornar Symphony mais eficaz e adaptável a cada indivíduo.
Depression is a heavy economic burden in Europe and worldwide, and it is expected to reach second place as the most common mental illness worldwide by 2020. First-line treatments include medication and psychotherapy, but they may either bring undesirable side-effects or be ineffective for several reasons that go from the shortage of trained practitioners to lack of compliance. Alternative therapies, such as music and technology based therapies, have been proposed as adjunctive treatments. This thesis proposes using a casual-game to aid people with depressive symptomatology. We conducted an initial study with a sample of individuals with mild to moderate depression symptoms to understand their regards to video-games, gaming tendencies, and preferred type of games. Playing in their free time, alone and on a computer or mobile device were mostly preferred, so we created a mobile casual game called Symphony based on puzzle-playing and music-listening to give tips for their mental well-being, promote cognitive stimulation, mood improvement, and emotion regulation strategies. A usability test conducted with 5 individuals from the general population was conducted to test its playability, where they completed pre- and post-intervention questionnaires to assess their mood and perception of the game. A final experiment was conducted with a sample of the target population of 8 volunteers, who also completed pre- and post-intervention questionnaires to assess the impact of playing Symphony on their depression levels, mood, and also to gather their perception of the game. Questionnaire data and therapists’ informal comments and observations reveal overall positive emotional responses and mood changes resulting from playing Symphony, and suggest improvements to make Symphony more effective and adaptable to each individual.
Depression is a heavy economic burden in Europe and worldwide, and it is expected to reach second place as the most common mental illness worldwide by 2020. First-line treatments include medication and psychotherapy, but they may either bring undesirable side-effects or be ineffective for several reasons that go from the shortage of trained practitioners to lack of compliance. Alternative therapies, such as music and technology based therapies, have been proposed as adjunctive treatments. This thesis proposes using a casual-game to aid people with depressive symptomatology. We conducted an initial study with a sample of individuals with mild to moderate depression symptoms to understand their regards to video-games, gaming tendencies, and preferred type of games. Playing in their free time, alone and on a computer or mobile device were mostly preferred, so we created a mobile casual game called Symphony based on puzzle-playing and music-listening to give tips for their mental well-being, promote cognitive stimulation, mood improvement, and emotion regulation strategies. A usability test conducted with 5 individuals from the general population was conducted to test its playability, where they completed pre- and post-intervention questionnaires to assess their mood and perception of the game. A final experiment was conducted with a sample of the target population of 8 volunteers, who also completed pre- and post-intervention questionnaires to assess the impact of playing Symphony on their depression levels, mood, and also to gather their perception of the game. Questionnaire data and therapists’ informal comments and observations reveal overall positive emotional responses and mood changes resulting from playing Symphony, and suggest improvements to make Symphony more effective and adaptable to each individual.
Description
Keywords
Depressão Música Regulação das emoções Video jogos Puzzles Depression Music Emotion regulation Video games Interactive Media Design . Faculdade de Ciências Exatas e da Engenharia