Attitudes of patients and mental health professionals towards hypothetical use of serious games in psychotherapy.

Serious games are increasingly being applied within healthcare, but their integration in psychotherapeutic settings is less documented.

Objectives: The present study sought to identify the attitudes of psychotherapists and patients towards the hypothetical use of serious games in psychotherapy in the South African context.

Methods: Online surveys assessed acceptance, experience, and requirements for the utilisation of serious games in therapeutic contexts. Clients utilising mental health services (n = 209) and psychotherapists delivering mental health services (n = 156) in South Africa completed the online survey.

Results: Knowledge about serious games is limited with only 15% of clients and 16% of therapists reporting knowledge of the existence and application of serious games. Use of serious games is even more infrequent with only 1% of therapists and 6% of clients currently using serious games as an intervention. Despite this, our findings highlight an apparent demand for their use, with 71% of therapists indicating that serious games would be a suitable adjunct treatment modality for their patients. Our results show a general openness toward the use of serious games in psychotherapy.

Conclusion: The use of serious games as an e-mental health treatment modality is conceivable for both patients and therapists, particularly as a complementary strategy to traditional face-to-face psychotherapy.