JMIR Serious Games

Loneliness has been linked to reduced mental and physical health. The “loneliness epidemic” is recognized as a public health crisis. However, questions remain about the potential of video games, which people play by themselves, to help reduce perceived loneliness.

Serious games can be custom or noncustom, each offering advantages for rehabilitation. Custom serious games developed specifically for rehabilitation allow control over feedback and adjustment of game speed and difficulty. Alternatively, noncustom games do not offer these controls but provide attractive graphics, sounds, and engaging game mechanics. The differences between these systems may affect users’ exercise intensity, quality of movement, and experience during gameplay, which have implications for system and game selection in rehabilitation.

Recent advances in digital therapeutics (DTx) have led to the development of game-based, home-delivered interventions for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Prior studies have demonstrated the feasibility and clinical potential of DTx for reducing ADHD symptoms but have primarily evaluated usage metrics, including training frequency and duration, which do not capture in-game performance or learning processes during training. In addition, the association between task difficulty regulation during DTx training and ADHD symptom improvement in children has not been well studied.

Serious games (SGs) have emerged as a promising tool in nursing education, providing interactive learning environments for clinical simulation, skill development, and feedback. These games enhance knowledge, clinical reasoning, and psychomotor skills. However, evidence on their effectiveness is dispersed across various platforms and outcome measures, making it difficult to derive clear guidelines for their integration into nursing curricula.

Craving is a diagnostic criterion and predictor of relapse in patients with alcohol dependence (AD) and is induced in cue exposure therapy (CET) to prepare patients for real-life risk situations. The benefits of virtual reality (VR) as an innovative tool within treatment for this highly prevalent disorder include increased practicability, standardization, and personalization of CET. Accurate measurement of craving is essential to develop effective virtual reality cue exposure (VR-CE) scenarios. Despite being relevant for diagnostics and therapy, the psychophysiological reaction to alcohol cues and its relationship to subjective craving has not been sufficiently examined.

Gamified teaching is considered an effective strategy for enhancing learning motivation. However, there is insufficient research on systematically designing theory-based gamified approaches for disaster nursing, particularly in resource-limited conventional classroom settings.

Planning deficits are a common and functionally significant executive function difficulty in children with autism, affecting everyday activities such as organizing tasks, prioritizing goals, and monitoring progress. Traditional neuropsychological assessments often lack ecological validity and may not capture these skills in real-world contexts. Serious games offer promising alternatives by simulating everyday scenarios and enabling observation of planning behaviors during interactive tasks. However, most existing systems focus on training rather than theory-driven assessment, and are rarely evaluated for usability before deployment with children with autism.

Subthreshold depression (StD) increases the risk of progression to major depressive disorder. Although exercise can reduce depressive symptoms, adherence remains challenging. Exergames on platforms such as Nintendo Switch may improve motivation and participation in physical activity; however, evidence for efficacy in StD is limited.

Cognitive impulsivity is a multifaceted construct associated with symptom severity, functional impairment, and poor quality of life in eating disorders (EDs) and mental ill-health. However, objective assessment of cognitive impulsivity is piecemeal and complex, with many assessment tools lacking psychometric evaluation and ecological validity. Furthermore, validated assessment tools are rarely perceived to be engaging or meaningful by individuals who complete them, limiting their utility in research and forming a barrier to clinical translation. Thus, although cognitive impulsivity predicts treatment engagement and outcomes, it is rarely assessed or addressed in a clinical context.

Digital health technologies increasingly use tablet-based cognitive assessments for children, yet interaction design choices can substantially influence cognitive load and measurement validity. Although cognitive load has been extensively studied in educational settings, its impact on patient-facing digital assessment tools for pediatric populations remains underexplored.

Strabismus, commonly known as crossed eyes, is a condition characterized by the misalignment of the eyes, leading to impaired binocular vision and depth perception. Traditional management often involves occlusion therapy, which can be hindered by poor compliance. Video game therapy has emerged as a promising adjunct to traditional treatments, potentially improving compliance and directly stimulating visual and cognitive functions.

Interprofessional education (IPE) is essential for developing teamwork and communication skills in health care training. Building interprofessional competency involves acquiring knowledge, cultivating readiness to engage in teamwork, and fostering effective collaboration. However, challenges include geographical barriers and faculty resistance that can hinder progress. Innovative solutions to enhance engagement and collaboration include serious games played using immersive virtual reality (IVR) and web-based platforms. Despite their potential, research comparing the effectiveness of these approaches for IPE remains limited.