Can a serious game help teenagers with psychiatric disorders learn and maintain a healthy lifestyle? This question is the focus of the Lifestyle Challenge, the innovation project with GGz Centraal on which we are working in the coming period. In co-creation with healthcare professionals and young people between the ages of 14 and 18, we are developing a prototype for a game about achieving a healthy lifestyle. Initiators Mieke Marquenie (nursing specialist ggz) and Bianca Braakhuis (program manager lifestyle): “The older you get, the harder it is to change your lifestyle. That’s why these kinds of early interventions are very important.’
According to Braakhuis, there is a gap in the current provision of care for young people with psychiatric disorders: ‘We know from research that lifestyle interventions lead to improvements in physical and mental health. For young people with a psychiatric condition, this is extra important. But at the same time, this is also a group that has more difficulty learning and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. For example, due to side effects of medication or as a symptom of their illness. As a practitioner, you can explain what a healthy sleep rhythm or healthy diet is. But how do you ensure that young people actually get started? And especially: that they keep it up? At the moment there is no work form that supports this, while there is a demand for it from the field.
Because lifestyle is essentially about behavior and habits, the idea arose to look at the possibilities of serious gaming. Maarten Stevens, former mental health therapist and founder of game company 8D: “Behavior doesn’t change in a few minutes. You have to repeat and practice new habits for a long time to achieve lasting change. Applying game principles helps with this, simply because playing is more fun than “having to. Especially for teenagers, this is enjoyable. You avoid just being patronizing or pedantic.’
The goal for the coming months is to develop a prototype for the serious game. In co-creation sessions with healthcare professionals and young people, for example, we are investigating which themes should be covered. Marquenie: “Last week we had a first session with a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals. They regularly find that young people have trouble continuing to work on their goals at home. A game provides guidance and sends the right message, namely: ‘get going!’ A telling example that came up: if you tell teenagers that they have to walk every day, it has little effect. But if you put them to work with Pokémon Go, it will happen automatically.’
The next step is a session with young people themselves, in which young people with different backgrounds and diagnoses can join. Braakhuis: “The most important thing is that we develop a game that connects with the living world of teenagers; regardless of which exact diagnosis they have. After all, there is no ‘standard’ solution for anyone. It’s about having the know-how to create an appropriate lifestyle for yourself, even when there are factors that make that more difficult for you.’
The Lifestyle Challenge is made possible in part by a contribution from the Christine Bader Foundation Irene Children’s Hospital. Questions or comments? Please mail to leefstijl@ggzcentraal.nl
Contact project manager Stephan
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