JMIR Serious Games

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has become increasingly prevalent among college students, while the prevalence of insomnia and social jet lag has also gradually increased in this population. Comorbidity among these conditions is common in young adults. Nevertheless, the internal correlational architecture underlying individual symptom indicators remains unclear.

Pediatric dental behavior management is difficult to teach because learners need safe opportunities to practice. Digital simulation tools offer new opportunities for safer and more structured training. However, the use of these approaches in pediatric dental behavior management education has not been systematically synthesized.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a global health issue with low survival rates, for which bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is crucial. In China, bystander CPR rates and public proficiency remain low. Children—an important future first-responder group—also lack adequate training. Gamification and virtual reality (VR) technologies show potential in enhancing training effectiveness, but research on the needs, acceptability, and functional requirements of gamified CPR training kits from children’s and parents’ dual perspectives is insufficient, providing a realistic basis for this study.

Metaverse technology is transforming health care, offering a wide range of applications in telemedicine, clinical care, education, mental health, and physical well-being.

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) face difficulties in being included in activities with their peers due to differences in cognitive abilities and social skills. Video games offer a promising medium to support inclusion, physical activity, and social engagement, but current solutions struggle to provide equitable experiences to heterogeneous groups of users, especially in multiplayer real-time contexts.

Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) requires precise intraoperative coordination from operating room nurses. Conventional teaching may be insufficient for junior nurses learning complex UKA surgical cooperation, particularly regarding self-efficacy and cognitive demands. Serious games have emerged as a promising educational tool for nursing training.

Patients with chronic stroke commonly experience motor and cognitive impairments, with diminished quality of life. Their participation in rehabilitation is often limited by long travel distances and low motivation. Given the health benefits of multimodal exercise, with the accessibility and engagement offered by interactive exergames, delivering such interventions in a remote format may help overcome common barriers, and enhance health outcomes.

As a neurodegenerative disorder, Parkinson disease (PD) demonstrates significant prevalence worldwide. As the population ages, the number of patients with PD increases. Individuals with PD are susceptible to varying degrees of cognitive and psychological impairments. Virtual reality (VR)–based therapy is an emerging technology used for cognitive recovery and mental health treatment, yet controversy remains.

Exposure and response prevention is a first-line intervention for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), yet many individuals with contamination concerns do not access care. Virtual reality exposure–based therapy (VRET) may improve scalability and acceptability.

Auditory discrimination training is widely used to supplement aural habilitation and rehabilitation in individuals with hearing or auditory challenges. Recently, gamification has been introduced as a strategy to enhance attention, motivation, and engagement during training. However, the relationship between user experience (UX) and auditory discrimination performance remains unclear. In addition, maintaining long-term interest in auditory training is still a challenge, particularly in younger populations, highlighting the need for more engaging and user-centered approaches.

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.

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.