Game Intervention for Resilience
A Randomized Controlled Trial to Examine the Impact of a Game-based Intervention in Promoting Positive Affectivity and Enhancing Psychological Resilience
The University of Hong Kong
60 participants
Jul 15, 2026
INTERVENTIONAL
Conditions
Summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a game-based intervention can enhance psychological resilience and promote positive affectivity in adults who have experienced major life stress. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does the game-based intervention improve positive affectivity and mental health compared to a waitlist control group immediately after the intervention and at 3-month follow-up? * Are the mental health benefits of the game-based intervention mediated by improvements in positive affectivity over time? Researchers will compare the game-based intervention to an active control group and a waitlist control group to see if the game leads to better emotional and mental health outcomes. Participants will: * Be randomly assigned to the game-based intervention group, the psychoeducation intervention group (as active control group), or the waitlist control group * Engage with the assigned program for 10 days within two weeks * Complete psychological assessments before and after the intervention, and again at 3-month follow-up
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria3
- fluency in oral and written Cantonese or Mandarin;
- having experienced at least one major life stress in the recent 5 years (assessed by the Life Stress Index);
- normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing.
Exclusion Criteria5
- formal diagnosis of any major psychiatric illnesses or history of suicidal behaviour;
- major physical illness, neurological condition or traumatic brain injury;
- Intake of medication within the previous 6 months that may affect emotion or cognitive functions;
- pregnancy (for women);
- prior experience with any commercial computer repair simulation game.
Interested in this trial?
Get notified about updates and connect with the research team.
Interventions
This intervention is a two-week game-based program designed to enhance psychological resilience and positive affectivity in individuals who have experienced major life stress. The game incorporates emotionally engaging features such as reward mechanisms, adaptive challenge levels, and implicit emotion-regulation cues. Unlike traditional psychoeducation or mindfulness-based interventions, this program uses interactive gameplay to target affective and cognitive processes associated with resilience.
The psychoeducation intervention will teach strategies to identify and regulate emotions, challenge negative thinking styles, improve mental flexibility, encourage optimism and active coping under adversity, and highlight the importance of self-value, life style and social support. Participants will watch the psychoeducation materials for 1 hour/day, 5 days/week, 2 weeks in total.
Locations(1)
View Full Details on ClinicalTrials.gov
For the most up-to-date information, visit the official listing.
NCT07235696