Case study
Video games for mental health
A systematic review and a meta-analysis of video game interventions for anxiety and depression.
Video games are increasingly used to complement treatments for anxiety and depression, but each game is described on its own terms, which makes it hard to compare them or to learn from one to the next. My PhD thesis, Video game-based interventions for anxiety and depression: from design to effectiveness, addresses this gap.
- Systematic review: 39 randomised trials covering 25 games, each coded against 47 design principles and four types of player engagement. Clustering revealed four design profiles that cut across therapeutic approaches.
- Meta-analysis: 31 effect sizes from 19 trials show that game-based interventions produce a small but reliable reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms (Hedges’ g = 0.25).
- Reporting blueprint: a proposal to document the design of therapeutic games so that design choices become transparent, searchable and shareable.
The data extraction for both syntheses relied on llmde, and the review’s design taxonomy was applied to Eco-Rescue.