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European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

, Volume 28, Issue 1, pp 111–122 | Cite as

Is REThink therapeutic game effective in preventing emotional disorders in children and adolescents? Outcomes of a randomized clinical trial

  • Oana A. David
  • Roxana A. I. CardoșEmail author
  • Silviu Matu
Original Contribution
First Online:

Abstract

Abstract

Therapeutic games represent a promising solution for addressing emotional difficulties in youths. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of the REThink game, in helping children and adolescents, to develop psychological resilience. Therefore, 165 children aged between 10 and 16 years were randomly assigned in one of the three groups: 54 participants in the REThink condition, 55 participants in the Rational Emotive Behavior Education condition, and 56 participants in the waitlist condition. Results indicated that the REThink intervention had a significant impact on emotional symptoms (a moderate-effect size, d = 0.46) and on depressive mood (a large-effect size, d = 0.84). Furthermore, REThink had a significant impact on children’s ability to regulate their emotions, with a significant effect on emotional awareness (d = 0.64), and on the ability for emotional control (d = 0.69). In conclusion, the implications of the REThink game are discussed in relationship with resiliency building programs designed for youths.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03308981.

Keywords

Therapeutic game Internalizing disorders Randomized-controlled trial Rational emotive behavioral therapy 
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Notes

Funding

This work was supported by a grant awarded to Oana A. David from the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS—UEFISCDI [Grant Number PN-II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-1937].

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Supplementary material

787_2018_1192_MOESM1_ESM.docx (15 kb)
Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 14 kb)

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • Oana A. David
    • 1
  • Roxana A. I. Cardoș
    • 1
    Email author
  • Silviu Matu
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, The International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental HealthBabeş-Bolyai UniversityCluj-NapocaRomania

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