Efficacy of the REThink Therapeutic Online Game in Promoting Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Background:The prevalence of emotional disorders in children and adolescents is constantly growing and leads to long-term negative consequences for later functioning. An efficient way to approach emotional disorders in youths is to provide adequate services to them prior to the onset of symptoms. A new strategy for implementing prevention programs in youths is the use of therapeutic games. The aim of this study is to test the effectiveness of the REThink therapeutic online game,in helping children and adolescents, aged between 10-16 years, to develop psychological resilience.

Methods: To test the effectiveness of the REThink therapeutic online game, 150 children and adolescents aged between 10-16 years will be included in the study. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: 1) the online therapeutic game intervention (REThink group), 2) the control condition Rational-Emotive-Behavioral Education (REBE) group and 3) the wait-list condition. Participants in the REThink group will play the seven levels of the game, structured into seven modules. In the REBE group, participants will follow seven REBE lessons, structured based on the strategies practiced in each of the REThink level. Assessment of participants will be made before, at the middle, at the end of the intervention, and at 6 months after the intervention.

Results: It is expected that participants in the REThink group will provide significantly better results regarding primary outcomes, namely psychological adjustment and the intensity of emotions. Significant improvements are expected at post-test and follow up for the REThink group regarding secondary outcomes, emotion regulation skills, temperamental variables, anxiety in a stressful situation, problem solving skills, relaxation skills,and alpha asymmetry index, compared to wait-list condition, and similarly to the REBE group. Also, it is expected that REThink efficacy will be related to changes in irrational beliefs, and negative and positive automatic thoughts. In addition, it is expected that the REThink game will register high satisfaction with the intervention.

Conclusions: This is randomized controlled trial which aims to analyze the effectiveness of a new therapeutic game developed for children and adolescents will provide important information regarding this promising tool.