Abstract
Can digital game play enhance child wellbeing? Applying a wellbeing framework that identified six dimensions of wellbeing (competence, agency, relatedness, curiosity, optimism, and reduced stress) we conducted a playtesting study (Nā=ā25) to develop wellbeing profiles for six games. These profiles informed an experimental study in which 8- to 12-year-olds (Nā=ā62) either played tablet-based casual games over an 8-week period (play group) or engaged in other activities (control group) in an afterschool program. We administered the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Scale (BPNSFS) as pre-test, and the KIDSCREEN-27, a standardized measure of wellbeing, as pre- and post-intervention test. We found that for children with specific psychological needs, the play intervention improved related domains of wellbeing. Results have theoretical and practical implications, including guidance for game designers to add features supporting child wellbeing.
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Plass, J.L., Homer, B.D., Bromley, M., Froehlich, F., Shao, Y., Young, J. (2023). Does Digital Game Play Affect Social/Emotional Child Wellbeing?. In: Haahr, M., Rojas-Salazar, A., Gƶbel, S. (eds) Serious Games. JCSG 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14309. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44751-8_11
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