Accès au soin des joueurs problématiques de jeux vidéo

Abstract

Video game playing can sometimes become problematic and involves a set of adverse effects for the player and his parents. However, only a few players really seek treatment. Research highlight barriers to treatment as factors hindering treatment-seeking process. The purpose of the current study is to explore perspectives of video game players’ parents on health access of problematic video game players. Particular attention is paid to barriers to treatment, help-seeking motivators, characteristics of video game playing, and face validity of a new tool designed to evaluate barriers to treatment of problematic video gamers. Semi-structured phone interviews were used. A mixed methodology was applied on a sample of 16 parents, parents who made a first call to a problematic gaming-specific local health center or parents of problematic players already enrolled in treatment program in the same specialized unit. Descriptive analysis were used on quantitative data and thematic analysis on qualitative data. Results show that help-seeking start when video game playing become a major, subjective, problem for the parents’ players. Furthermore, the parents give more insight on gaming activity: trajectory of use, characteristics of players’ gaming activity, motives and adverse effects. Presence of barriers to treatment is emphasized. Effects and sources of some internal barriers are particularly discussed. Face validity analysis isn’t fully completed. This study is, to our knowledge, one of the first to investigate health access of problematic video game players. Finally, some possible ways for improving problematic players’ help-seeking are suggested.