Depression is a prevalent mental disorder that can significantly impact students' academic performance and overall well-being. University life presents numerous stressors that can lead to depression, so early diagnosis and prevention are crucial. Traditional treatments have limitations, creating a need for innovative, less invasive alternatives. To address this problem, we developed Lonely Days, a serious game inspired by the principles of mindfulness. We conducted a randomised controlled trial to evaluate its impact. Depression levels were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and mindfulness levels were assessed using the Mindfulness Awareness Scale (MAAS). The results indicate that Lonely Days is a viable tool for preventing depression. Furthermore, the MAAS results also suggest an increase in levels of mindfulness among participants. This study shows the potential of Lonely Days as a preventive tool for depression in university students. Future research will focus on expanding the sample size and conducting in-person sessions to improve data quality and participant interaction. Overall, Lonely Days offers a promising approach to mental health intervention through engaging and accessible digital media.

Depression is a mental health problem with far-reaching implications. In the particular case of affected students, this can hinder not only their academic performance but also their general well-being. To help prevent this problem, we developed the serious game ‘Sally’. For its creation we followed Multiple Composite Scenarios (MCS), a methodology for the design of serious games rooted in principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). To explore the effects produced by ‘Sally’, we evaluated our game in a randomized controlled trial. The results show that, at p < 0.05, ‘Sally’ significantly reduces depressive symptoms. In this paper, we present our findings and discuss the benefits and limitations of this serious game, along with our plans for future improvements to enhance its effectiveness.

Social anxiety, a mental disorder that manifests as a persistent and excessive fear of social situations, affects a considerable number of young people worldwide. To contribute to its solution, we developed Gisselle's Adventure, a serious game that aims to prevent the onset of this disorder in young individuals. To create it, we adhered to a methodology for the development of video games rooted in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). To assess the efficacy of our game, we conducted a randomized control trial. Results show that, at p < 0.05, we obtained a statistically significant value. In this document, we introduce Gisselle's Adventure, discuss its benefits and limitations, and briefly outline our future plans for improvement.

For years, educational game designers have paid close attention to the development of entertaining experiences for students. Yet, as experts point out, an overwhelming number of projects do not have rigorous Pedagogical foundations. Additionally, many existent educational game design frameworks have a one-size-fits-all approach. That is, they were conceived with a single domain of knowledge in mind or do not consider the personal characteristics of those involved in the learning process. To address these issues, we reviewed multiple case studies and design frameworks, and studied guidelines from Pedagogy. As a result, using techniques from Grounded Theory, we identified key design patterns and features present in educational games that may serve to attain learning goals. With this information, we created a model to analyze existing games and design new educational games with Pedagogical foundations. In this work we present our model, and we discuss our findings, limitations, and future work.

As experts point out, the number of technological systems that deal with mental disorders or that try to prevent them is reduced. To solve those issues we modeled the prevention of mental disorders from a social, medical and technological perspective. We found that one way to prevent a disorder is by addressing its cognitive-behavioral components. Therefore, we decided to follow guidelines from the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT). And with this information we developed an affective game to prevent anorexia nervosa in young students. Our game uses Love Coins, a cognitive-behavioral reward system inspired by CBT and emotional feedback from affective games, to estimate the players' performance and compliance with health recommendations. In this work we present our conceptual design, results from a pilot study, the limitations of our scope and future work aimed at developing a framework of use.