300 Chapter 7 Greenstein et al., 1999). In the transtheoretical model (TTM) of behavioural change (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1982) motivation to change is conceptualized as a process that involves progression through five stages (Norcross et al., 2011): 1) precontemplation (not being aware of any problems, no intention to change behaviour), 2) contemplation (awareness about problems that need to be changed), 3) preparation (intention to seek help), 4) action (actively working on behavioural change), and 5) maintenance (preventing relapse and continuing to implement newly learned skills). The TTM proposes that clients’ treatment adherence and engagement, as well as outcomes depend on the client’s stage of motivation. Previous research among university students with self-identified anxiety issues found that higher precontemplation scores were associated with reduced help-seeking and that higher contemplation, action and maintenance scores were associated with greater help-seeking (Dozois et al., 2004). In addition, research among psychotherapy patients has found that higher precontemplation, lower contemplation and lower action scores were associated with premature termination of therapy (Brogan et al., 1999; Derisley & Reynolds, 2000; Dozois et al., 2004; Smith et al., 1995). Based on this literature, we expected that motivation to change would also influence individuals’ willingness to play, and engagement with, a game promoted as a mental health game. Emotion and Stress Mindsets Two other important motivational factors that might influence individuals’ willingness to play, and engagement with, a game promoted as a mental health game are their mindsets about the malleability of emotions (i.e., emotion mindset) and the nature of stress (i.e., stress mindset). Individuals with a fixed emotion mindset believe that emotions are not changeable and cannot be controlled. Individuals with a growth emotion mindset believe that emotions are malleable and can be changed with effort, experience, and help from others (Dweck, 1999; Tamir et al., 2007). Regarding stress mindset, individuals with a stress-is-enhancing or stress-is-debilitating mindset experience stress as enhancing or debilitating, respectively, for health, performance and personal growth (Crum et al., 2013). The concept of mindsets is based on Dweck’s (1999) framework in which it is proposed that mindsets – also called implicit theories – determine one’s goals, action tendencies, beliefs about effort, and predict one’s reaction to setbacks (Dweck, 2017a, 2017b). This makes mindsets an important motivational factor for behaviour (Burnette et al., 2013; Dweck,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw