Game Intervention for Resilience

NCT07235696 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: EA250229
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 60
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief 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

Conditions

Chronic Stress; Trauma Exposure; Resilience, Psychological; Major Life Stress

Keywords

Game-Based Intervention; Psychological Resilience; Major Life Stress; Positive Affectivity

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change from Baseline in the Symptom-Checklist 90 (SCL-90) at Post-Assessment and 3-Month Follow-Up

  This outcome assesses changes in participants' psychological symptoms using the Symptom-Checklist 90 (SCL-90), a validated self-report instrument that measures a broad range of psychological problems and symptoms of psychopathology. Scores will be collected at baseline, immediately after the two-week intervention, and at 3-month follow-up to evaluate the effectiveness of the game-based intervention in improving mental health outcomes.

  Baseline, Post-Intervention (2 weeks), and 3-Month Follow-Up

Secondary Outcomes (6)

• Change from Baseline in the Positive Affect Assessed by Chinese Affect Scale (CAS) at Post-Assessment and 3-Month Follow-Up

  Baseline, Post-Intervention (2 weeks), and 3-Month Follow-Up

• Change from Baseline in Positive Refocusing Strategy Measured by the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) at Post-Assessment and 3-Month Follow-Up

  Baseline, Post-Intervention (2 weeks), and 3-Month Follow-Up

• Change from Baseline in Positive Reframing Strategy Measured by the Brief COPE at Post-Assessment and 3-Month Follow-Up

  Baseline, Post-Intervention (2 weeks), and 3-Month Follow-Up

• Change from Baseline in Mental Health Symptoms Assessed by Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) at Post-Assessment and 3-Month Follow-Up

  Baseline, Post-Intervention (2 weeks), and 3-Month Follow-Up

• Change from Baseline in Reward Processing Assessed by Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) Task at Post-Assessment and 3-Month Follow-Up

  Baseline, Post-Intervention (2 weeks), and 3-Month Follow-Up

Study Arms (3)

Game-based intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: Game-based Intervention

Psychoeducation intervention

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Behavioral: Psychoeducation intervention

Waitlist control

NO INTERVENTION

Interventions

Game-based Intervention BEHAVIORAL

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.

Game-based intervention

Psychoeducation intervention BEHAVIORAL

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.

Psychoeducation intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 23 Years - 35 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• 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.

You may not qualify if:

• 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.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The University of Hong Kong: lead

Study Sites (1)

The University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

RECRUITING

Central Study Contacts

Associate Professor, Principle Investigator

CONTACT

+852-3917-8927; rshao@hku.hk

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 24, 2025
• First Posted: November 19, 2025
• Study Start (Estimated): July 15, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 20, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 20, 2026
• Last Updated: May 1, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

HK (1)