An App That Incorporates Gamification, Mini-Games, and Social Connection to Improve Men's Mental Health and Well-Being (MindMax): Participatory Design Process.

Vanessa Wan Sze Cheng,Ian B Hickie,Daniel Johnson,Tracey A Davenport,Kellie Vella,Jo Mitchell

doi:10.2196/11068

Vanessa Wan Sze Cheng, Ian B Hickie + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.2196/11068

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Abstract

BackgroundMen have different mental health needs as compared with women, and women make up the primary audience of most digital mental health interventions. An Australian football-themed (specifically Australian Football League, AFL) app named MindMax incorporating psychoeducation, gamification, mini-games, and social connection was developed in an effort to address this issue.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to identify the best way to structure and present MindMax, an app that aims to deliver psychoeducational modules, and create a Web-based community centering on well-being, AFL, and video games for men aged 16 to 35 years who are interested in AFL or video games.MethodsWe conducted 6 participatory design (PD) workshops with people aged 16 to 35 years in 3 cities in Australia, to identify the best way to present MindMax, and contracted a digital development agency to develop MindMax. We then iteratively tested MindMax prototypes with 15 user experience testing interviews across 3 separate time points: 2 before app launch and 1 after app launch.ResultsA total of 40 individuals (25 male and 15 female) participated in the PD workshops, and a total of 15 individuals (10 male and 5 female) participated in user experience interviews. Broadly, participants expressed a preference for activities requiring active engagement that practiced useful skills. They were also sensitive to how content was presented and wanted the ability to customize their own app experience. Although participants agreed that social motivations were important for engagement with an app, they recommended not to mimic existing social networks.ConclusionsIn basing itself strongly within the AFL subculture and by incorporating gamification as well as mini-games, MindMax aimed to tackle mental health help-seeking barriers for people who enjoy AFL or video games, with a particular emphasis on men, and to provide psychoeducation on strategies to increase mental health and well-being. If MindMax is successful, this would indicate that generalizing this approach to other traditional sporting codes and even competitive video gaming leagues (esports) would be fruitful.

Highlights

Men’s Well-Being and Internet InterventionsAs participants in mental health research are heavily biased toward being female [1,2], research outcomes may not be fully generalizable to men
Due to the convenience sampling strategy employed while recruiting for participatory design (PD) workshops, participants naturally tended toward video game design students in Brisbane, Australian Football League Players’ Association (AFLPA)-affiliated individuals in Melbourne, and mental health and technology academics and students in Sydney
To eliminate the possibility of bias arising from previously brainstorming this topic at length, user experience interviewees were different across all time points and none had previously attended any MindMax PD workshops

Summary

Introduction

Men’s Well-Being and Internet InterventionsAs participants in mental health research are heavily biased toward being female [1,2], research outcomes may not be fully generalizable to men. Women are more receptive to structured internet health interventions than men [4]. This problem is especially urgent for young people as most mental health problems are developed during young adulthood [5]. Participants expressed a preference for activities requiring active engagement that practiced useful skills They were sensitive to how content was presented and wanted the ability to customize their own app experience. Conclusions: In basing itself strongly within the AFL subculture and by incorporating gamification as well as mini-games, MindMax aimed to tackle mental health help-seeking barriers for people who enjoy AFL or video games, with a particular emphasis on men, and to provide psychoeducation on strategies to increase mental health and well-being. If MindMax is successful, this would indicate that generalizing this approach to other traditional sporting codes and even competitive video gaming leagues (esports) would be fruitful

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