April 11th 2024
Insights into adolescent mental health using video game
Researchers use ‘Tracing Tomorrow’ game to better understand the attitudes and responses of young people aged 16-18 to personal sensing data in tackling depression.
We’re getting ever better at collecting data on human behaviour online – everything from text messages to the sites and content we read, and the way we interact with other people. We’re also getting ever better at using this kind of data in early detection of risks to mental health. Yet there remain serious ethical concerns about this kind of ‘personal sensing’.
Photo by Ella Don
A new study published in the medical journal BMJ Mental Health used an ingenious method to explore the attitudes to and impact of such personal sensing technology on adolescents aged 16-18. The results give useful insights into the ways young people respond to such tech, their attitudes to their own mental health and the kind of provision they’d want to support them.
From the start, the researchers wanted to know who (if anyone) young people trusted with information about their own risk of poor mental health. They also wanted to know the sources of information and support young people trusted, their attitudes to sharing data and communication about mental health, and how information about risks to mental health affect a young person’s self-understanding.
To answer these questions, the team used a video game called Tracing Tomorrow, in which players face a scenario in which, in the lead up to school exams, they receive alerts that they may at risk of depression. Participants then choose what happens next by answering a series of questions.
The game seems to have really engaged the young people involved: a total of 7,337 UK-based adolescents aged 16-18 took part in the study, the majority of them (5,214) female.
That, of course, provides a sizeable body of evidence – and some very revealing results. As many as 62.4% of participants said that learning they were at risk of depression in the given scenario would negatively affect how they judged their own academic competence. However, 17% felt that being informed of the risk would benefit them in being able to prepare.
Some 75.5% of participants said they would disclose information about risks to mental health with either their parents or best friend, but a concerning 22.6% said they wouldn’t. There were much more mixed responses to the question of sharing such information with schools, mainly because of concerns over privacy.
Merely 2% were willing to share such information on social media. Men/boys (the category used in the paper) were less likely than women/girls to share information about their mental health with others and less likely to accept peer support.
A little less than half (47.7%) preferred face-to-face support on a one-to-one basis, but this ‘overwhelmingly’ the preferred option to group-based on digital support. About half of participants said they would be willing to join a mental health tracking service based on their digital footprint, whether or not this was through an educational institution or social media platform.
‘To make digital tracking a viable early intervention for mental health,’ conclude the authors of the paper, ‘accessible and acceptable support options for adolescents are crucial. Understanding [young people’s] concerns regarding formal and informal support is paramount for responsible progress in the field.’
In related news:
‘Avalanche’ of demand for autism services has surpassed NHS capacity
Savage students: More teachers in England have fallen victim to violence