299 7 MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS IN A MENTAL HEALTH GAME Anxiety and depression are the most prevalent mental health disorders among young adults, with up to 11.7% and 15.6% of young adults reporting, respectively, an anxiety disorder or major depressive episode in the past year (De Graaf et al., 2012; Kessler & Walters, 1998). These mental health disorders lead to high societal costs, as well as debilitating and often devastating longterm outcomes for the individual (WHO, 2001). Recently, there has been a strong increase in the use of e-health applications to prevent and treat mental health problems, including – but not limited to – video games for mental health. Video games have been proposed as a viable alternative for delivering interventions, due to their natural appeal and intrinsic motivational characteristics (Fleming et al., 2017; Granic et al., 2014; Kazdin, 2015). Games may have the potential to engage individuals and keep them engaged for longer periods of time than conventional programmes. Additionally, video games can be a cost-effective alternative because of their potential for scalability, reaching individuals most in need with little cost and effort (for recent reviews see e.g., Eichenberg & Schott, 2017; Lau et al., 2017). Despite these proposed advantages of mental health games, limited research has examined uptake and adherence among individuals with mental health symptoms (Fleming et al., 2018; Fleming et al., 2016). Additionally, we do not know how individuals with different motivations engage with mental health games (Fleming et al., 2017). Knowledge about whether and how motivational factors influence the selection of, and engagement with, mental health games will allow us to tailor the promotion of mental health games such that we can optimize uptake and adherence, eventually broadening the impact of mental health games on population mental health. The primary aims of the current study were to examine how motivational factors influence (a) the willingness to play, and (b) subsequent levels of engagement with, a game promoted as a mental health game, among young adults with mental health symptoms. The secondary aim was to examine whether mindsets change after playing a game promoted as a mental health game. Motivation to Change Motivation to change refers to individuals’ willingness to change symptoms or problems they are experiencing. In the clinical literature, motivation to change has been identified as an important predictor for help-seeking, treatment engagement, adherence, dropout, and treatment outcomes (e.g., Beitman et al., 1994; Brogan et al., 1999; Dozois et al., 2004; Lewis et al., 2012; Lewis et al., 2009; Lichtenberg & Hummel, 2000; May et al., 2007; Norcross et al., 2011; Prochaska & Norcross, 2001; Taylor et al., 2012; Vogel et al., 1997 in
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw