JMIR Serious Games最新文献

{"title":"Transformative Gamified Binocular Therapy for Unilateral Amblyopia in Young Children: Pilot Prospective Efficacy and Safety Study.","authors":"Wenqing Zhu, Shuneng Gu, Jian Li, Jin Lin, Chanling Hu, Rui Liu","doi":"10.2196/63384","DOIUrl":"10.2196/63384","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Amblyopia is a common cause of visual impairment in children. Compliance with traditional treatments for amblyopia is challenging due to negative psychosocial impacts. Recent shifts in amblyopia treatment have moved from suppressing the dominant eye to enhancing binocular visual function. Binocular digital therapy has become a promising approach.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of binocular gamified digital therapy on visual acuity and stereoacuity (SA) in children with unilateral amblyopia.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This pilot prospective study enrolled 11 children aged 4-6 years with unilateral amblyopia. Following at least 8 weeks of refractive correction, participants underwent binocular gamified digital therapy for 60 minutes per day, 5 days a week. The therapy used a roguelike shooting game delivered under binocular conditions through two independent channels with a real-time artificial intelligence visual engine. Assessments of distance visual acuity (DVA), near visual acuity (NVA), and SA were conducted at baseline and again at 4, 8, and 12 weeks.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>At 12 weeks, the following significant improvements were noted: amblyopic eye DVA improved by 1.0 line (P=.01; d=0.77), binocular DVA improved by 0.7 lines (P=.006; d=1.00), and SA improved by 0.3 logarithm (log) arcseconds (P=.01; d=0.97). At 8 weeks, improvements included amblyopic eye DVA by 0.9 lines (P=.046; d=1.00) and SA by 0.28 log arcseconds (P=.02; d=0.90). No significant adverse events were observed, although one participant developed progressive esotropia.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Binocular gamified digital therapy is effective and safe for improving visual outcomes in children aged 4-6 years with unilateral amblyopia.</p>","PeriodicalId":14795,"journal":{"name":"JMIR Serious Games","volume":"13 ","pages":"e63384"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11756835/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143005681","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scrutinizing the Gateway Relationship Between Gaming and Gambling Disorder: Scoping Review With a Focus on the Southeast Asian Region.","authors":"Kristiana Siste, Daniel L King, Enjeline Hanafi, Lee Thung Sen, Adrian Adrian, Belinda Julivia Murtani","doi":"10.2196/59740","DOIUrl":"10.2196/59740","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The gaming and gambling overlap has intensified with new evidence emerging. However, the relationship between gaming and gambling in the digital space is still inconclusive, especially in resource-limited Asian countries.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study aims to review available evidence on the possible interaction and focuses specifically on the gateway interaction between gambling and gaming. Additionally, this review delves into the state of evidence from the Southeast Asian region, providing an in-depth analysis of this underexplored area.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We performed a scoping review by sifting through the publications in five databases. We focused on the gateway interaction and provided a possible pathway model, while two other convergence relationships were provided for comparison.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The scoping review identified a total of 289 publications, with the majority being empirical (n=181), although only 12 studies used longitudinal designs. A significant proportion of the publications (n=152) concentrated on the correlation or comorbidity between gaming and gambling. Most of the evidence has originated from Global North countries, with very limited research emerging from Southeast Asia (n=8). The most commonly studied gambling-like element in video games was loot boxes (n=105). Other elements investigated included esports betting, skin betting, token wagering, gambling advertisements, and gambling-like features. Several longitudinal studies have highlighted the risk of the gateway effect associated with gamblification involvement. However, emerging evidence suggests more nuanced underlying mechanisms that drive the transition from gaming to gambling.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Overall, there is early evidence of linkage between gambling and gaming, through shared structural and biopsychosocial characteristics. This association possibly extends beyond disparate comorbidity, as such engagement in one activity might influence the risk of partaking in the other behavior. The field requires further longitudinal data to determine the directionality and significant precipitating factors of the gateway effect, particularly evidence from Asia.</p>","PeriodicalId":14795,"journal":{"name":"JMIR Serious Games","volume":"13 ","pages":"e59740"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11753718/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143005680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reciprocal Relationship Between Self-Control Belief and Gaming Disorder in Children and Adolescents: Longitudinal Survey Study.","authors":"Shimin Zhu, Di Qi","doi":"10.2196/59441","DOIUrl":"10.2196/59441","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Children and adolescents are often at the crossroads of leisure gaming and excessive gaming. It is essential to identify the modifiable psychosocial factors influencing gaming disorder development. The lay theories of self-control (ie, the beliefs about whether self-control can be improved, also called self-control mindsets) may interplay with self-control and gaming disorder and serve as a promising influential factor for gaming disorder.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study aims to answer the research questions \"Does believing one's self-control is unchangeable predict more severe gaming disorder symptoms later?\" and \"Does the severity of gaming disorder symptoms prospectively predict self-control mindsets?\" with a 1-year, 2-wave, school-based longitudinal survey.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A total of 3264 students (338 in grades 4-5 and 2926 in grades 7-10) from 15 schools in Hong Kong participated in the classroom surveys. We used cross-lagged panel models to examine the direction of the longitudinal association between self-control mindsets and gaming disorder.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A bidirectional relationship was found between self-control mindsets and gaming disorder symptom severity (the cross-lagged path from mindsets to gaming disorder: regression coefficients [b] with 95% CI [0.070, 0.020-0.12o, P=.006]; and from gaming disorder to mindsets: b with 95% CI [0.11, 0.060-0.160, P<.001]). Subgroup analyses of boy and girl participants revealed that more growth mindsets regarding self-control predicted less severe gaming disorder symptoms in girls (b=0.12, 95% CI 0.053-0.190, P=.001) but not in boys (b=0.025, 95% CI -0.050 to 0.100, P=.51), while more severe gaming disorder symptoms predicted a more fixed mindset of self-control in both boys (b=0.15, 95% CI 0.069-0.230, P<.001) and girls (b=0.098, 95% CI 0.031-0.170, P=.004) after 1 year.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our findings demonstrated the negative impact of gaming disorder on one's self-control malleability beliefs and implied that promoting a growth mindset regarding self-control might be a promising strategy for gaming disorder prevention and early intervention, especially for girls.</p>","PeriodicalId":14795,"journal":{"name":"JMIR Serious Games","volume":"13 ","pages":"e59441"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11769689/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143046640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pervasive Games for Sexual Health Promotion: Scoping Literature Review.","authors":"Claudio Rubio, Felipe Besoain","doi":"10.2196/58912","DOIUrl":"10.2196/58912","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Serious games play a fundamental role in promoting safe sexual behaviors. This medium has great potential for promoting healthy behaviors that prevent potential risk factors, such as sexually transmitted infections, and promote adherence to sexual health treatments, such as antiretroviral therapy. The ubiquity of mobile devices enhances access to such tools, increasing the effectiveness of video games as agents of change.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>In this scoping review, we aimed to (1) identify the extent to which pervasive games have been used in the field of sexual health, (2) determine the theories used in the design and evaluation of pervasive games for sexual health, (3) identify the methods used to evaluate pervasive games for sexual health, and (4) explore the reported benefits of using pervasive games for sexual health.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Following the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) methodology, we conducted a comprehensive literature search in the Web of Science, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, and ACM databases for articles published between January 1, 2000, and August 4, 2024. Included articles were published in English between 2000 and 2024 and involved the design, implementation, or evaluation of a ubiquitous video game focused on promoting safe sexual behaviors, with qualitative and/or quantitative results based on theory-based techniques and ubiquitous technologies. Review articles, conference papers, or books without available data or quantitative or qualitative results were excluded.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We screened 521 of 612 articles (85.1%) after removing duplicates. After the title and abstract review, 51 (9.8%) articles were assessed for eligibility, and 30 (5.8%) articles meeting the criteria were studied and evaluated in depth. The results suggested that the use of pervasive video games has a positive impact on promoting safe sexual behaviors. This is enhanced by the effectiveness of theory-based techniques and the use of mobile technologies as developmental factors that drive the gaming experience. The results indicated that this domain is a growing field that should not be ignored.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The literature showed that pervasive video games have been effective in promoting safe sexual behaviors. Substantial growth has been seen in scientific community interest in researching this domain; nevertheless, there is still much to work on. In this context, we advocate for the standardization of design, implementation, and experimentation as essential phases in creating video game experiences. These 3 fundamental aspects are critical in the development of video game-based studies to ensure the reproducibility of experiments.</p>","PeriodicalId":14795,"journal":{"name":"JMIR Serious Games","volume":"13 ","pages":"e58912"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11780293/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143005660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tongue Muscle Training App for Middle-Aged and Older Adults Incorporating Flow-Based Gameplay: Design and Feasibility Pilot Study.","authors":"Kuan-Chu Su, Ko-Chiu Wu, Kuei-Ru Chou, Chia-Hsu Huang","doi":"10.2196/53045","DOIUrl":"10.2196/53045","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background: &lt;/strong&gt;Complications due to dysphagia are increasingly prevalent among older adults; however, the tediousness and complexity of conventional tongue rehabilitation treatments affect their willingness to rehabilitate. It is unclear whether integrating gameplay into a tongue training app is a feasible approach to rehabilitation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Objective: &lt;/strong&gt;Tongue training has been proven helpful for dysphagia treatment. Following the development of a tongue training app, a feasibility trial aimed to identify physiological and psychological factors that affect user and flow experience and explored whether training specialized muscles could produce a flow experience for optimal immersion. We aimed to provide a useful tool for medical rehabilitation so that older adults could retain tongue muscle flexibility.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Methods: &lt;/strong&gt;After consulting professional nurses, we developed a mobile gaming app for middle-aged and older adults to train their tongue muscles. This pilot study used an image recognition system to detect the tongue movements of 32 healthy middle-aged and older adults (7 males, 21.9%; 25 females, 78.1%) during 3 game training tasks, each requiring different reaction speeds. Their physiological and psychological signals, as well as the results of the Flow State Scale 2 (FSS2) questionnaire, were used for correlation analysis regarding relevant flow experiences to establish and evaluate the feasibility of our method.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results: &lt;/strong&gt;Through exploratory factor analyses, a 2-factor (operation and immersion) structure was confirmed to have an adequate model fit (χ²36=448.478; P&lt;.001; Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin=0.757) and internal consistency reliability (Cronbach α=0.802). The slow, medium, and fast levels all significantly affected the FSS2 score for operation (P=.001), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (P&lt;.001), and flow distance (P&lt;.001). K-means clustering revealed that participants could be further categorized into 3 groups. Through the analysis of changes in the participants' physiological and psychological signals for each given task, Pearson correlation indicated that changes were primarily related to flow distance. For the 12 indicators measured in this study, the low, medium, and high operation groups showed significance in 58% (7/12), 50% (6/12), and 25% (3/12) of the indicators, respectively. Similarly, the low, medium, and high immersion groups had changes in 50% (6/12), 33% (4/12), and 17% (2/12) of indicators, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions: &lt;/strong&gt;Our research supports the further development of a gaming app to aid older adults with tongue muscle training and measure flow using physiological and psychological signals to enhance training accuracy and feasibility. Next, we aim to conduct a randomized pilot trial, improve app functions, offer alternative rehabilitation options, and encourage long-term participation. Future goals include ","PeriodicalId":14795,"journal":{"name":"JMIR Serious Games","volume":"13 ","pages":"e53045"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11737528/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142949294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effectiveness of a Virtual Reality Serious Video Game (The Secret Trail of Moon) for Emotional Regulation in Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Randomized Clinical Trial.","authors":"Marina Martin-Moratinos, Marcos Bella-Fernández, María Rodrigo-Yanguas, Carlos González-Tardón, Chao Li, Ping Wang, Ana Royuela, Pilar Lopez-Garcia, Hilario Blasco-Fontecilla","doi":"10.2196/59124","DOIUrl":"10.2196/59124","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Difficulties in emotional regulation are often observed in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Innovative complementary treatments, such as video games and virtual reality, have become increasingly appealing to patients. The Secret Trail of Moon (MOON) is a serious video game developed by a multidisciplinary team featuring cognitive training exercises. In this second randomized clinical trial, we evaluated the impact of a 20-session treatment with MOON on emotional regulation, as measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>We hypothesize that patients with ADHD using MOON will show improvements in (1) emotional regulation, (2) core ADHD symptoms, (3) cognitive functioning, and (4) academic performance, compared to a control group; additionally, we anticipate that (5) changing the platform (from face-to-face using virtual reality to the web) will not affect emotional regulation scores; and (6) the video game will not cause any clinically significant side effects.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This was a prospective, unicentric, randomized, unblinded, pre- and postintervention study with block-randomized sequence masking. Participants included individuals aged between 7 and 18 years who had a clinical diagnosis of ADHD and were receiving pharmacological treatment. They were randomized into 2 groups using an electronic case report form: the MOON group, receiving standard pharmacological treatment plus personalized cognitive training via a serious video game, and the control group, receiving standard pharmacological treatment. We provided both the groups with psychoeducational support on ADHD. Analysis was conducted using the Student 2-tailed t test and 2-factor ANOVA. An independent monitor supervised the study.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 76 patients with ADHD participated in the trial, with an equal randomization (MOON: n=38, 50% and control: n=38, 50%) and a total dropout rate of 7. The primary hypothesis, a 3- or 4-point reduction in the global Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire score, was not met. However, significant improvements were observed in material organization (P=.03), working memory (P=.04), and inhibition (P=.05), particularly among patients more engaged with the MOON treatment.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Serious video games, when integrated into a multimodal treatment plan, can enhance outcomes for symptoms associated with ADHD.</p><p><strong>Trial registration: </strong>ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06006871; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06006871.</p><p><strong>International registered report identifier (irrid): </strong>RR2-10.2196/53191.</p>","PeriodicalId":14795,"journal":{"name":"JMIR Serious Games","volume":"13 ","pages":"e59124"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11754979/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142949293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Virtual Reality High-Intensity Interval Training Exergaming Compared to Traditional High-Intensity Circuit Training Among Medical Students: Pilot Crossover Study.","authors":"Pietro Merola, Marcos Barros Cardoso, Gabriel Barreto, Matheus Carvalho Chagas, Luana Farias Oliveira Saunders, Bryan Saunders, Danilo Cortozi Berton","doi":"10.2196/63461","DOIUrl":"10.2196/63461","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>This study evaluated the effectiveness of a virtual reality (VR) high-intensity interval training (HIIT) boxing protocol compared to traditional high-intensity circuit training (HICT) in improving exercise motivation, engagement, and physiological responses among 30 healthy medical students.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>The purpose was to compare the VR HIIT protocol, which involved using an Oculus Quest 2 for a futuristic exoskeleton game experience, with a traditional 12-exercise HICT.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In total, 30 medical students engaged in both VR HIIT, using an Oculus Quest 2 for a futuristic exoskeleton game experience, and a traditional 12-exercise HICT. Metrics included heart rate (HR) and blood lactate levels before and after exercise alongside ratings of perceived exertion and the Situational Motivation Scale.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>VR HIIT showed significantly higher mean HR (mean 161, SD 15 vs mean 144, SD 11 bpm; d=1.5; P<.001), peak HR (mean 182, SD 15 vs mean 176, SD 11 bpm; d=0.8; P=.001), and ratings of perceived exertion (mean 16, SD 2 vs mean 15, SD 2; d=0.4; P=.03). Postexercise lactate levels were higher in HICT (mean 8.8, SD 4.5 vs mean 10.6, SD 3.0 mmol/L; d=0.6; P=.006). Intrinsic motivation and other psychological measures showed no significant differences, except for lower fatigue in HICT (d=0.5; P=.02).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>VR HIIT significantly enhances physiological parameters while maintaining intrinsic motivation, making it a viable alternative to traditional HICT. However, the short-term nature of this study is a limitation, and future research should explore the long-term engagement and therapeutic impacts of VR exercise in diverse and clinical populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":14795,"journal":{"name":"JMIR Serious Games","volume":"13 ","pages":"e63461"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11731695/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142949295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"User Experience of a Semi-Immersive Musical Serious Game to Stimulate Cognitive Functions in Hospitalized Older Patients: Questionnaire Study.","authors":"Laurent Samson, Lena Carcreff, Frédéric Noublanche, Sophie Noublanche, Hélène Vermersch-Leiber, Cédric Annweiler","doi":"10.2196/57030","DOIUrl":"10.2196/57030","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Reminiscence therapy through music is a psychosocial intervention with benefits for older patients with neurocognitive disorders. Therapies using virtual or augmented reality are efficient in ecologically assessing, and eventually training, episodic memory in older populations. We designed a semi-immersive musical game called \"A Life in Songs,\" which invites patients to immerse themselves in a past era through visuals and songs from that time period. The game aspires to become a playful, easy-to-use, and complete tool for the assessment, rehabilitation, and prevention of neurocognitive decline associated with aging.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study aimed to assess the user experience (UX) associated with the newly designed serious game.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>After one or several sessions of the game guided by the therapist, patients of the geriatric wards were asked to answer questions selected from 2 widely known UX scales (AttrakDiff and meCUE [modular evaluation of the components of user experience]) with the therapist's help. The internal consistency of the UX dimensions was assessed through Cronbach α to verify the validity of the dimensions. The level of engagement of the patient throughout the experimental session was also assessed following an internally developed scale, which included 5 levels (interactive, constructive, active, passive, and disengaged behaviors). UX mean scores were computed and presented graphically. Verbal feedbacks were reported to support the quantitative results.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Overall, 60 inpatients with a mean age of 84.2 (SD 5.5) years, the majority of whom were women (41/60, 68%), were included. Their score on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) ranged between 12 and 29. A majority of patients (27/56, 48%) had no major neurocognitive disorder (MNCD), 22/56 (39%) had mild MNCD, and 7/56 (13%) had moderate MNCD. The results revealed very positive UX with mean values beyond the neutral values for every UX dimension of both scales. The overall mean (SD) judgment was rated 3.92 (SD 0.87) (on a scale of -5 to 5). Internal consistency was acceptable to good for the emotional dimensions of the meCUE. Questionable to unacceptable consistency was found for the other UX dimensions. Participants were mostly active (23/60, 38%) and constructive (21/60, 35%).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These findings demonstrated a very good appreciation of the game by geriatric inpatients. Participants' and health care professionals' verbal comments strongly aligned with the quantitative results. The poor internal consistency in the UX dimensions reflected the high heterogeneity among the included patients. Further studies are needed to evaluate the potential benefits of clinical factors such as neurocognitive functions, mood, depression, or quality of life.</p>","PeriodicalId":14795,"journal":{"name":"JMIR Serious Games","volume":"13 ","pages":"e57030"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11728198/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142978518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Perceptions of Patients With Stroke Regarding an Immersive Virtual Reality-Based Exercise System for Upper Limb Rehabilitation: Questionnaire and Interview Study.","authors":"Jiayin Chen, Calvin Kalun Or, Zhixian Li, Eric Hiu Kwong Yeung, Tianrong Chen","doi":"10.2196/49847","DOIUrl":"10.2196/49847","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>With substantial resources allocated to develop virtual reality (VR)-based rehabilitation exercise programs for poststroke motor rehabilitation, it is important to understand how patients with stroke perceive these technology-driven approaches, as their perceptions can determine acceptance and adherence.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study aimed to examine the perceptions of patients with stroke regarding an immersive VR-based exercise system developed to deliver shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist, and reaching exercises.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A questionnaire was used to assess the perceptions of 21 inpatients who had experienced stroke (mean time from stroke onset: 37.2, SD 25.9 days; Brunnstrom stage of stroke recovery for the arm: 3-5) regarding the perceived usefulness of, ease of use of, attitude toward, intrinsic motivation for, and intention to use the exercise system. The measurement items were rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (very strongly disagree) to 7 (very strongly agree), with higher values indicating more positive perceptions. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the responses. Moreover, we conducted semistructured interviews that were audio recorded, transcribed, and subjected to content analysis to identify thematic patterns.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The questionnaire results revealed that the patients' perceptions of the exercise system were positive (mean ratings >6). The content analysis revealed 6 positive themes from 73 statements about the exercise system: ease of use, usefulness, enjoyment, motivation, accessibility, and game design. Conversely, 15 statements reflected negative perceptions, which were clustered into 3 themes: difficulty in handling VR devices, uncomfortable experiences when using VR devices, and monotony.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Integrating VR technology into poststroke functional exercises holds significant promise based on patient interests. However, patient preferences and adaptability must be considered to promote the technology's success. VR-guided exercises should be user-friendly, health-promoting, engaging, and well-designed. Furthermore, addressing challenges, such as bulkiness, motion sickness, discomfort, and exercise monotony, is crucial for the widespread adoption and diffusion of this technology.</p>","PeriodicalId":14795,"journal":{"name":"JMIR Serious Games","volume":"13 ","pages":"e49847"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11736226/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142914804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Use of 4 Open-Ended Text Responses to Help Identify People at Risk of Gaming Disorder: Preregistered Development and Usability Study Using Natural Language Processing.","authors":"Paweł Strojny, Ksawery Kapela, Natalia Lipp, Sverker Sikström","doi":"10.2196/56663","DOIUrl":"10.2196/56663","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background: &lt;/strong&gt;Words are a natural way to describe mental states in humans, while numerical values are a convenient and effective way to carry out quantitative psychological research. With the growing interest of researchers in gaming disorder, the number of screening tools is growing. However, they all require self-quantification of mental states. The rapid development of natural language processing creates an opportunity to supplement traditional rating scales with a question-based computational language assessment approach that gives a deeper understanding of the studied phenomenon without losing the rigor of quantitative data analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Objective: &lt;/strong&gt;The aim of the study was to investigate whether transformer-based language model analysis of text responses from active gamers is a potential supplement to traditional rating scales. We compared a tool consisting of 4 open-ended questions formulated based on the clinician's intuition (not directly related to any existing rating scales for measuring gaming disorders) with the results of one of the commonly used rating scales.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Methods: &lt;/strong&gt;Participants recruited using an online panel were asked to answer the Word-Based Gaming Disorder Test, consisting of 4 open-ended questions about gaming. Subsequently, they completed a closed-ended Gaming Disorders Test based on a numerical scale. Of the initial 522 responses collected, we removed a total of 105 due to 1 of 3 criteria (suspiciously low survey completion time, providing nonrelevant or incomplete responses). Final analyses were conducted on the responses of 417 participants. The responses to the open-ended questions were vectorized using HerBERT, a large language model based on Google's Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT). Last, a machine learning model, specifically ridge regression, was used to predict the scores of the Gaming Disorder Test based on the features of the vectorized open-ended responses.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results: &lt;/strong&gt;The Pearson correlation between the observable scores from the Gaming Disorder test and the predictions made by the model was 0.476 when using the answers of the 4 respondents as features. When using only 1 of the 4 text responses, the correlation ranged from 0.274 to 0.406.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions: &lt;/strong&gt;Short open responses analyzed using natural language processing can contribute to a deeper understanding of gaming disorder at no additional cost in time. The obtained results confirmed 2 of 3 preregistered hypotheses. The written statements analyzed using the results of the model correlated with the rating scale. Furthermore, the inclusion in the model of data from more responses that take into account different perspectives on gaming improved the performance of the model. However, there is room for improvement, especially in terms of supplementing the questions with content that corresponds more directly to the definition of gami","PeriodicalId":14795,"journal":{"name":"JMIR Serious Games","volume":"12 ","pages":"e56663"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11733516/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142909556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}