CFH1b KIT - Digital games to tackle common mental health problems in children and young people

Over three-quarters of children and young people with emotional and behavioural problems do not receive professional care, as they fail to meet NHS mental health services entry threshold for illness severity and complexity. We will develop Digital Intervention Games (DIGs) through which children and young people can learn and use behaviour therapy techniques supported by non-specialists from health, social care, education or the voluntary sector. Behaviour therapy has a strong clinical evidence base and lends itself well to be “gamified” because games offer an intuitive way of modelling and shaping behaviour. This project will bring together stakeholders - in mixed groups of professionals, children and adolescents, parents and game designers and developers - who will participate in a series of knowledge exchange seminars and consultations for the iterative design, development, and testing of the DIGs therapeutic content, interface, and mechanics, resulting in a functioning prototype of a fit-for-purpose intervention that can be evaluated on a large scale.