Digital Games And Mental Health

Digital health is the convergence of digital technologies with health to enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery and make healthcare more personalized and precise. These technologies generally focus on the development of interconnected health systems to improve the use of computational technologies, smart devices, computational analysis techniques, and communication media to help healthcare professionals and their patients manage illnesses and health risks, as well as promote health and well-being. Digital tools play a central role in the most promising future healthcare innovations and create tremendous opportunities for a more integrated and value-based system along with a stronger focus on patient outcomes, and as such, having access to the latest research findings and progressions is of paramount importance. Digital Therapies in Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health introduces the latest digital innovations in the mental health field and points out new ways it can be used in patient care while also delving into some of the limits of its application. It presents a comprehensive state-of-the-art approach to digital mental health technologies and practices within the broad confines of psychosocial and mental health practices and also provides a canvas to discuss emerging digital mental health solutions, propelled by the ubiquitous availability of personalized devices and affordable wearable sensors and innovative technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, mobile apps, robots, and intelligent platforms. It is ideal for medical professors and students, researchers, practitioners of healthcare companies, managers, and other professionals where digital health technologies can be used.

Digital technology use, whether on smartphones, tablets, laptops, or other devices, is prevalent across cultures. Certain types and patterns of digital technology use have been associated with mental health concerns, but these technologies also have the potential to improve mental health through the gathering of information, by targeting interventions, and through delivery of care to remote areas. The Oxford Handbook of Digital Technologies and Mental Health provides a comprehensive and authoritative review of the relationships between mental health and digital technology use, including how such technologies may be harnessed to improve mental health. Understanding the positive and negative correlates of the use of digital technologies has significant personal and public health implications, and as such this volume explores in unparalleled depth the historical and cultural contexts in which technology use has evolved; conceptual issues surrounding digital technologies; potential positive and potential negative impacts of such use; treatment, assessment, and legal considerations around digital technologies and mental health; technology use in specific populations; the use of digital technologies to treat psychosocial disorders; and the treatment of problematic internet use and gaming. With chapters contributed by leading scientists from around the world, this Handbook will be of interest to those in medical and university settings, students and clinicians, and policymakers.

Gaming has never been disconnected from reality. When we engage with ever more lavish virtual worlds, something happens to us. The game imposes itself on us and influences how we feel about it, the world, and ourselves. How do games accomplish this and to what end? The contributors explore the video game as an atmospheric medium of hitherto unimagined potential. Is the medium too powerful, too influential? A danger to our mental health or an ally through even the darkest of times? This volume compiles papers from the Young Academics Workshop at the Clash of Realities conferences of 2019 and 2020 to provide answers to these questions.

Gaming has never been disconnected from reality. When we engage with ever more lavish virtual worlds, something happens to us. The game imposes itself on us and influences how we feel about it, the world, and ourselves. How do games accomplish this and to what end? The contributors explore the video game as an atmospheric medium of hitherto unimagined potential. Is the medium too powerful, too influential? A danger to our mental health or an ally through even the darkest of times? This volume compiles papers from the Young Academics Workshop at the Clash of Realities conferences of 2019 and 2020 to provide answers to these questions.

Mental Health in a Digital World addresses mental health assessments and interventions using digital technology, including mobile phones, wearable devices and related technologies. Sections discuss mental health data collection and analysis for purposes of assessment and treatment, including the use of electronic medical records and information technologies to improve services and research, the use of digital technologies to enhance communication, psychoeducation, screening for mental disorders, the problematic use of the internet, including internet gambling and gaming, cybersex and cyberchondria, and internet interventions, ranging from online psychotherapy to mobile phone apps and virtual reality adjuncts to psychotherapy. Reviews research and applications of digital technology to mental health Includes digital technologies for assessment, intervention, communication and education Addresses data collection and analysis, service delivery and the therapeutic relationship Discusses the E-related disorders that complicate digital intervention

This book examines how video game mechanics and narratives can teach players skills associated with increased psychological well-being. It integrates research from psychology, education, ludology, media studies, and communication science to demonstrate how game play can teach skills that have long been associated with increased happiness and prolonged life satisfaction, including flexible thinking, openness to experience, self-care, a growth mindset, solution-focused thinking, mindfulness, persistence, self-discovery and resilience. The chapters in this volume are written by leading voices in the field of game studies, including researchers from academia, the video gaming industry, and mental health practitioners paving the way in the field of “geek therapy.” This book will advance our understanding of the potential of video games to increase our psychological well-being by helping to mitigate depression, anxiety, and stress and foster persistence, self-care, and resilience.

Due to various challenges within the public-school system, such as underfunding, lack of resources, and difficulty retaining and recruiting teachers of color, minority students have been found to be underperforming compared to their majority counterparts. Minority students deserve quality public education, which can only happen if the gap in equity and access is closed. In order to close this achievement gap between the majority and minority groups, it is critical to increase the learning gains of the minority students. Digital Games for Minority Student Engagement: Emerging Research and Opportunities is an essential reference source that argues that digital games can potentially help to solve the problems of minority students’ insufficient academic preparation, and that a game-based learning environment can help to engage these students with the content and facilitate academic achievement. Featuring research on topics such as education policy, interactive learning, and student engagement, this book is ideally designed for educators, principals, policymakers, academicians, administrators, researchers, and students.

Recent years have seen important developments in the computer and game industry, including the emergence of the concept of serious games. It is hypothesized that tools such as games, virtual reality, or applications for smartphones may foster learning, enhance motivation, promote behavioral change, support psychotherapy, favor empowerment, and improve some cognitive functions. Computers and games may create supports for training or help people with cognitive, emotional, or behavioral change. Games take various formats, from board games to informatics to games with interactive rules of play. Similarly, computer tools may vary widely in format, from self-help or assisted computerized training to virtual reality or applications for smartphones. Some tools that may be helpful for mental health were specifically designed for that goal, whereas others were not. Gamification of computer-related products and games with a numeric format tend to reduce the gap between games and computers tools and increase the conceptual synergy in such fields. Games and computer design share an opportunity for creativity and innovation to help create, specifically design, and assess preventive or therapeutic tools. Computers and games share a design conception that allows innovative approaches to overcome barriers of the real world by creating their own rules. Yet, despite the potential interest in such tools to improve treatment of mental disorders and to help prevent them, the field remains understudied and information is under-disseminated in clinical practice. Some studies have shown, however, that there is potential interest and acceptability of tools that support various vehicles, rationales, objectives, and formats. These tools include traditional games (e.g., chess games), popular electronic games, board games, computer-based interventions specifically designed for psychotherapy or cognitive training, virtual reality, apps for smartphones, and so forth. Computers and games may offer a true opportunity to develop, assess, and disseminate new prevention and treatment tools for mental health and well-being. Currently, there is a strong need for state-of-the-art information to answer questions such as the following: Why develop such tools for mental health and well-being? What are the potential additions to traditional treatments? What are the best strategies or formats to improve the possible impact of these tools? Are such tools useful as a first treatment step? What is the potential of a hybrid model of care that combines traditional approaches with games and/or computers as tools? What games and applications have already been designed and studied? What is the evidence from previous studies? How can such tools be successfully designed for mental health and well-being? What is rewarding or attractive for patients in using such treatments? What are the worldwide developments in the field? Are some protocols under development? What are the barriers and challenges related to such developments? How can these tools be assessed, and how can the way that they work, and for whom, be measured? Are the potential benefits of such products specific, or can these additions be attributed to nonspecific factors? What are the users’ views on such tools? What are the possible links between such tools and social networks? Is there a gap between evidence-based results and market development? Are there any quality challenges? What future developments and studies are needed in the field?

This student-friendly book provides an accessible overview of the primary debates about the effects of video games. It expands on the original The Video Game Debate to address the new technologies that have emerged within the field of game studies over the last few years. Debates about the negative effects of video game play have been evident since their introduction in the 1970s, but the advent of online and mobile gaming has revived these concerns, reinvigorating old debates and generating brand new ones. The Video Game Debate 2 draws from the latest research findings from the top scholars of digital games research to address these concerns. The book explores key developments such as virtual and augmented reality, the use of micro-transactions, the integration of loot boxes, and the growth of mobile gaming and games for change (serious games). Furthermore, several new chapters explore contemporary debates around e-sports, gamification, sex and gender discrimination in games, and the use of games in therapy. This book offers students and scholars of games studies and digital media, as well as policymakers, the essential information they need to participate in the debate.

Given the migration to more technologically driven services and resources in today’s world, as well as the range of digital innovations and research that have taken shape throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to consider the role that such advancements have played in supporting mental health initiatives. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health service providers utilized technology and online environments more than ever before to care for people’s mental health and emotional needs, which has forced us to raise questions like how COVID-19 has impacted mental health support and services and how technology has helped people with their mental health through this ongoing crisis, along with outlooks for the future. Digital Innovations for Mental Health Support explores a range of current developments and topics surrounding the application of technology in mental health services including the need to examine the availability and forms of technologies to support mental health, how technology is received by people and the providers of services utilizing technology, how online platforms are increasingly being used for support and how efficacious these are, as well as how they are monitored and the issues that arise from their use. This publication provides an outlet with chapters focusing on empirical studies across a variety disciplines that utilize technologies and online platforms to support mental health and emotional well-being, including psychology, counseling, medicine, education, and psychiatry. Covering topics such as counseling online and computer games to support mental health, it is ideal for researchers, academics, healthcare professionals, and students.

Emotions, Technology, and Digital Games explores the need for people to experience enjoyment, excitement, anxiety, anger, frustration, and many other emotions. The book provides essential information on why it is necessary to have a greater understanding of the power these emotions have on players, and how they affect players during, and after, a game. This book takes this understanding and shows how it can be used in practical ways, including the design of video games for teaching and learning, creating tools to measure social and emotional development of children, determining how empathy-related thought processes affect ethical decision-making, and examining how the fictional world of game play can influence and shape real-life experiences. Details how games affect emotions—both during and after play Describes how we can manage a player’s affective reactions Applies the emotional affect to making games more immersive Examines game-based learning and education Identifies which components of online games support socio-emotional development Discusses the impact of game-based emotions beyond the context of games

Health literacy in practice requires the development of techniques that ensure that the patient can better access information, understand its content, know how to use this information, and make better health decisions. If the patient makes better health decisions, there are immediate reflexes in health outcomes. The aim is to develop an approach based on the commitment and creation of an atmosphere of trust that reduces uncertainty, anxiety, and embarrassment based on a process of assertive, clear, and positive communication (ACP model). The Handbook of Research on Assertiveness, Clarity, and Positivity in Health Literacy brings the consolidation of knowledge, strategies, and techniques to improve health literacy. This book discusses the importance of making sound health decisions: decisions that can save lives, prevent premature deaths, avoid hospitalizations and abusive resources to medical emergencies, and improve overall health outcomes for the individual, family, community, and society. Covering topics such as dietary guidance, health behavior change models, and medication reconciliation, this resource has theoretical and practical aspects essential to health information libraries, hospitals, clinics, health centers, health schools, patient associations, health professionals, medical students, researchers, professors, and academicians.

"Violence against children (VAC) is one of the most significant, widespread, and preventable threats to human development in our world today. VAC not only has direct consequences for children in a myriad of domains, including physical health, mental health, educational outcomes, and social relationships (e.g., Fry et al., 2018; Hughes, et al., 2017; Noonan & Pilkington, 2020; Norman et al., 2012), but emerging research also suggests that the incredible stress induced by VAC may result in the intergenerational transmission of negative outcomes, conferred through a variety of pathways. For example, children impacted by VAC may view violence as an acceptable method of conflict resolution and be more likely to engage in violent behaviors as they grow into adulthood, thus modeling violence for future generations (Affolter & Valente, 2019; Britto et al., 2014; Donaldson et al., 2017; Yale University & AÇEV Partnership, 2012)"--