JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on students’ mental health. Interventions are needed to promote their psychological wellbeing and prevent mental illnesses in the aftermath of this unprecedented situation. Digital Escape Games can be an effective tool to support students’ mental health. A co-creation approach can improve the acceptability of these interventions by involving different publics (e.g., end-users, game designers and health professionals) in order to obtain audience-specific games.

Objective:

This study aims to describe the process of testing and optimizing the game “EscapeCovid” on students’ mental health, to serve as a model for the co-creation of future similar interventions.

Methods:

The PRODUCES framework was used. Co-creation steps were detailed for replicability (test and optimization). Forty-five students tested a pilot version of the game, and 10 of them underwent a semi-structured interview. Meetings with a group of stakeholders, and brainwriting were organized to optimize the game.

Results:

We obtained a new version of the game incorporating the suggestions provided by student testers and following the stakeholders’ guidelines. Improvements were made to both the content and the form of the pilot version of the game. The storyline, including the protagonist and the scenes, was adapted to the student population.

Conclusions:

Our results suggested that co-creation could contribute to the design of more widely accepted interventions aimed at promoting mental health and preventing psychological disorders. Results also suggest that an end-user-centered approach can facilitate intervention tailoring. When conceiving a health-related Escape Game for students, we recommend using the co-creation approach to enhance players’ experience, thus positively influencing their learning process and overall well-being.