Developing and evaluating MindMax: promoting mental wellbeing through an Australian Football League-themed app incorporating applied games (including gamification), psychoeducation, and social connectedness

Gamification is increasingly being used as a behavioural change strategy to increase engagement with apps and technologies for mental health and wellbeing. While there is promising evidence supporting the effectiveness of individual gamification elements, there remains little evidence for its overall effectiveness. Furthermore, a lack of consistency in how ‘gamification’ and related terms (such as ‘applied games’, an umbrella term of which gamification is one type) are used has been observed within and across multiple academic fields. This contributes to the difficulty of studying gamification and decreases its accessibility to people unfamiliar with applied games. Finally, gamification has also been critiqued by both game developers and by academics for its reliance on extrinsic motivators and for the messages that gamified systems may unintentionally convey. In this context, the aims of this thesis were fourfold: 1) to iteratively co-design and develop a gamified app for mental health and wellbeing, 2) to evaluate the eventuating app, 3) to consolidate literature on gamification for mental health and wellbeing, and 4) to synthesise findings into practical guidelines for implementing gamification for mental health and wellbeing. Chapter 2 reports the first study which addresses the first aim of this thesis. Six participatory design workshops were conducted to support the development of MindMax, an Australian Football League (AFL)-themed mobile phone app aimed at AFL fans (particularly male ones) that incorporates applied games, psychoeducation, and social connectedness. Findings from these workshops were independently knowledge translated and fed back to the software development team, resulting in a MindMax prototype. This prototype was further tested with 15 one-on-one user experience testing interviews at three separate time points to iteratively refine MindMax’s design and delivery of its content. The findings of this study suggest that broadly, participants endorsed a customisable user experience with activities requiring active user participation. These specifications were reflected in the continual software updates made to MindMax. Chapters 3 and 4 report the second and third studies which address the second aim of this thesis. As regular content, performance, and aesthetic updates were applied to MindMax (following the model of the wider tech industry), a naturalistic longitudinal trial, described in Chapter 3, was deemed to be the most appropriate systematic evaluation method. In this study, participants (n=313) were given access to MindMax and asked to use it at their leisure, and surveys were sent out at multiple time points to assess their wellbeing, resilience, and help-seeking intentions. Increases in flourishing (60-day only), sense of connection to MindMax, and impersonal help-seeking intentions were observed over 30 and 60 days, suggesting that Internet-based interventions like MindMax can contribute to their users’ social connectedness and encourage their help-seeking. The third study, described in Chapter 4, reports a secondary analysis of data collected for Chapter 3, and further explores participants’ help-seeking intentions and their links to wellbeing, resilience, gender, and age. An explanatory factor analysis was conducted on Day 1 General Help-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ) data (n=530), with the best fitting solution resulting in three factors: personal sources, health professionals, and distal sources. In addition to providing more evidence that younger people aged 16–35 categorise apps and technologies for mental health and wellbeing like MindMax alongside other distal social sources such as phone helplines and work or school, our findings also suggest that the best way to target individuals who are least likely to seek help, particularly men, may be through these distal sources as well. Chapter 5 reports the fourth study, which addresses the third aim. In order to consolidate literature on gamification for mental health and wellbeing, this systematic review identified 70 papers that collectively reported on 50 apps and technologies for improving mental health and wellbeing. These papers were coded for gamification element, mental health and wellbeing domain, and researchers’ justification for applying gamification to improving mental health and wellbeing. This study resulted in two major findings: first, that the current application of gamification for mental health and wellbeing does not resemble the heavily critiqued mainstream application that relies on extrinsic motivators; and second, that many authors of the reviewed papers provided little or no justification for why they applied gamification to their mental health and wellbeing interventions. While the former finding is encouraging, the latter suggests that the gamification of mental health and wellbeing is not theory-driven, and is a cause for concern. Finally, to address the final aim of this thesis, all study learnings were synthesised into practical guidelines for implementing gamification for mental health and wellbeing. First, it is important to assess the suitability of implementing gamification into the intervention. Second, this implementation should ideally be integrated at a deeper, systemic level, with the explicitly qualified intention to support users, evidence-based processes, and user engagement with these processes. Third, it is important to assess the acceptability of this gamified intervention throughout its development, involving all relevant stakeholders (particularly representative end user populations). Fourth, it is important to evaluate the impact of this gamified intervention. Fifth, and finally, comprehensive and detailed documentation of this process should be provided at all stages of this process. This thesis contributes to a growing literature on the increasing importance and relevance of Internet-based resources and apps and technologies for mental health and wellbeing, particularly for young people. Given the dominance of games in society and culture across history, and the increasing contemporary prominence of digital games (also known as video games) in particular, gamification is uniquely positioned to have the potential to make large contributions to mental health and wellbeing research. In this context, this thesis contributes a systematically derived operationalisation of gamification, an evaluation of a gamified app for mental health and wellbeing, and best practice guidelines for implementing gamification for mental health and wellbeing, thereby providing frameworks that future implementations of gamified mental health and wellbeing interventions and initiatives may find useful

Game on! A randomised controlled trial evaluation of playable technology in improving body satisfaction and negative affect among adolescents

Playables are mini-games used in digital advertising and may offer a novel and engaging avenue to improve young people’s well-being at scale. This randomised controlled trial evaluated the immediate impact and protective properties of a psychoeducational playable on adolescents’ body satisfaction and negative affect, and engagement in prosocial behaviours, relative to two active control conditions. Girls and boys aged 13–14 years (N = 6575) were randomised into one of three conditions: body image playable, body image social networking posts (i.e. static images of the body image playable messages; control 1) or an ocean conservation playable (control 2). Both body image micro-interventions significantly improved state body satisfaction and negative affect, relative to the oceanic playable. No condition buffered against the negative effects associated with viewing idealised media images. Developing playables to counteract the potentially harmful effects associated with surrounding digital environments is a promising avenue for mental health

Cultural Competence and the Higher Education Sector

This open access book explores cultural competence in the higher education sector from multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary perspectives. It addresses cultural competence in terms of leadership and the role of the higher education sector in cultural competence policy and practice. Drawing on lessons learned, current research and emerging evidence, the book examines various innovative approaches and strategies that incorporate Indigenous knowledge and practices into the development and implementation of cultural competence, and considers the most effective approaches for supporting cultural competence in the higher education sector. This book will appeal to researchers, scholars, policy-makers, practitioners and general readers interested in cultural competence policy and practice

Human Computer Interaction and Emerging Technologies

The INTERACT Conferences are an important platform for researchers and practitioners in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) to showcase their work. They are organised biennially by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Technical Committee on Human–Computer Interaction (IFIP TC13), an international committee of 30 member national societies and nine Working Groups. INTERACT is truly international in its spirit and has attracted researchers from several countries and cultures. With an emphasis on inclusiveness, it works to lower the barriers that prevent people in developing countries from participating in conferences. As a multidisciplinary field, HCI requires interaction and discussion among diverse people with different interests and backgrounds. The 17th IFIP TC13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (INTERACT 2019) took place during 2-6 September 2019 in Paphos, Cyprus. The conference was held at the Coral Beach Hotel Resort, and was co-sponsored by the Cyprus University of Technology and Tallinn University, in cooperation with ACM and ACM SIGCHI. This volume contains the Adjunct Proceedings to the 17th INTERACT Conference, comprising a series of selected papers from workshops, the Student Design Consortium and the Doctoral Consortium. The volume follows the INTERACT conference tradition of submitting adjunct papers after the main publication deadline, to be published by a University Press with a connection to the conference itself. In this case, both the Adjunct Proceedings Chair of the conference, Dr Usashi Chatterjee, and the lead Editor of this volume, Dr Fernando Loizides, work at Cardiff University which is the home of Cardiff University Press

ABU (being able but unwilling to respond) – a new TESOL term and its relationship with modesty and fear of being viewed as show-off

This study endeavours to establish if a classroom behaviour, which the writer will term "Able but unwilling” (ABU), is a factor in learner reticence. It is proposed that ABU is similar to, but stands separately from, Willingness to Communicate (WTC). Traditionally, WTC-related studies focusing particularly on East Asian learners have reported factors such as insufficient target language proficiency and insufficient academic knowledge that led to low-level WTC. However, although the writer is Chinese, this does not fit his experience of learning in UK higher education and neither did it fit that of his East Asian classmates. For example, he and his classmates had sufficient language proficiency and academic knowledge, but they were still unwilling to respond to teachers’ questions. Why, in the absence of the factors cited, would learners still be reticent? In addition, published literature views L1 and L2 WTC separately. However, the current reality of classrooms such as those in EMI higher education where both native and non-native speakers, who may already speak several languages, study together, is that these students are still reticent to communicate. To identify if ABU is a factor in this reticence, the researcher proposed 5 research questions (RQs) related to ABU employing a mixed methods approach to collect data from a sample of 50 European, British and American (Uba) and 55 East Asian (EA) participants. These RQs compare possible tendencies to be ABU between EA and Leuba students and empirically explore whether modesty and fear of being seen as showing-off (FSF) influence EA and Eubank students’ ABU. Lastly, they investigate how modesty and showing-off are conceived of by EuBA and EA participants. This study differs from previous WTC studies in that it sheds light on reticent behaviours in a range of six online and face-to-face class contexts. It was found that ABU exists in both EA and EuBA groups to different degrees in the six contexts, while EA students have stronger ABU tendencies across all scenarios compared to EuBA students. Modesty and FSF also have variable degrees of influence on EA and EuBA respondents' ABU across all scenarios while EuBA and EA students appear to have different conceptions of modest and show-off classroom behaviours. Based on these findings, the researcher proposes implications for both research and pedagogy in the contexts investigated

Conservation Research, Policy and Practice

Developed following the success of an international symposium, this book examines how to make conservation more effective through strengthening links between science research, policy and practice. Ideal for practitioners, researchers, graduate students and policymakers. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core

Suomenlinna, enjoy with care: Designing for visitor guidance service with behavioural insights

Suomenlinna has seen a steady rise in visitor numbers and is one of the most popular visitor destinations in Finland. Despite the benefits of increased tourism to this UNESCO World Heritage Site, it has also brought some additional challenges. Commissioned by the Governing Body of Suomenlinna, this practice-based thesis began with exploring the issue of visitor safety through motivation and signage. Using service design as the main approach and informed by behavioural insights, early exploration into visitor safety concerns revealed that these concerns were part of a wider systemic issue stemming from visitor behaviours. These behaviours, such as walking in areas that are not recommended by the Governing Body, affect not only the visitors’ own safety but also have an effect on the privacy of Suomenlinna residents and conservation efforts. This thesis further identifies that these behaviours result from a combination of the misaligned perceptions visitors have about Suomenlinna and its ineffectual visitor guidance service. In this thesis, the findings and insights from primary research, which consisted of a workshop, field observations, interviews, and shadowing, formed the basis of discovering the underlying issue and reframing the design brief. Theoretical frameworks in the fields of service design, behavioural studies and tourism were researched during the literature review in order to shed light on the possible cause of the underlying issue and strategies to tackle the issue. This thesis suggests that by addressing both the conscious and unconscious sides of visitor behaviours, an effective means of shifting behaviours could be achieved. In order to create practical and implementable solutions, the thesis develops a design proposal consisting of an awareness campaign and on-site interventions. The awareness campaign focuses on addressing the conscious minds of visitors with the aim of re-aligning perceptions to be more in line with the historical value of Suomenlinna. Improvements in the visitor guidance interventions on-site focus on the unconscious minds of visitors to address momentary lapses in areas where impulsive behaviours can overtake the judgement of visitors. The design proposal was prototyped and tested in the field, gathering feedback and results. The thesis concludes with a discussion on future steps for pilot implementation, limitations, and future research to ensure meaningful behavioural changes for Suomenlinna. This thesis demonstrates that service design informed by behavioural insights can be an effective catalyst for guiding the behaviour of visitors to ensure that the integrity of Suomenlinna and its future tourism can coexist.Kim, Jinn

Exploring students’ iterative practices when learning with physical computing kits through data visualisations

Physical computing kits allow the practical implementation of open-ended, hands-on, interactive learning experiences in the classroom. In the process of engaging with physical computing kits, students formulate and implement self-constructed goals using an iterative approach. However, the openness and diversity of such learning contexts often make them challenging to design and support. The field of learning analytics has the potential to support project-based learning, using continuous real-time data traces arising from student interactions. Data visualisations, specifically, can provide reflective opportunities for teachers to analyse students’ actions and act based on this evidence. However, to date, there has been little data visualisation research targeted at learning with physical computing kits. This thesis reports progress into the design and evaluation of a suite of data visualisations focussed on students’ iterative design process when using physical computing kits in authentic classroom settings. The areas of iterative design, appropriation theory, process-driven learning analytics and data visualisation inform the analysis and interpretation of trace data collected from students’ interactions. The contribution of the thesis is three-fold. First, a model for examining students’ trace data in keeping with social processes, such as appropriation, is presented. Secondly, insights into the iterative design process of students engaging in open-ended projects are produced, as they emerge from our data visualisations, across multiple groups of students. Thirdly, an evaluation into the role and potential of using data visualisations in the classroom is conducted with ten teachers. Implications for the design and support of open-ended project-based learning experiences with physical computing kits using trace data and data visualisation are discussed based on the teachers’ feedback. The thesis represents a first step towards the design of context-aligned, process-oriented data visualisations to provide evidence-based reflective opportunities to support students’ iterative design behaviours in this learning setting