A serious game to educate youths on depression

Abstract

Depression has been a taboo topic for many years. Many people avoid the topic simply because they are afraid they say the wrong things or they simply do not know what to say. It has been a difficult challenge to raise awareness of depression and educate Singaporeans on what it means to be diagnosed with depression. This report aims to destigmatize the topic of depression in youths through the use of serious games. This specifically targets youths who do not have exposure to direct contact with mental health issues. The contribution of this work is threefold: firstly, it presents some background research of conventional ways in which others have tried to raise awareness of depression. Secondly, the development of a serious game called I’m Blue. Thirdly, qualitative insights are examined to analyse the effectiveness of the serious game.

The primary contribution in this report is the development of a serious game to educate youths on how to converse about depression. This is a topic that has not been explored by many. Many people do not know how to hold a conversation about depression. Studies have shown that many people face the problem of “I wanted to talk about it, but I couldn’t”. This report provides a solution to help youths speak up about depression and how to go about doing so.

Results show that the objective of stigmatising depression has been met. Participants agreed the game was beneficial to educate others how to show empathy. Further insights of how direct contact is more ideal than a controlled game environment were discovered. However, games provide a good foundation to help participants explore how to approach conversations about depression.