Assessment of the usefulness and appeal of stigma-stop by psychology students: a serious game designed to reduce the stigma of mental illness

摘要

The present work describes the first serious game designed to reduce the stigma among students towards mental health problems. The game is called Stigma-Stop, and it features characters who suffer from various mental disorders. Players are provided with information about different mental illnesses, and they are presented with several options on how to act when they encounter characters with these problems. In addition, the game questions the participants as to whether they have ever felt like the individuals portrayed in the game, with the goal of fostering empathy for those that suffer from these types of disorders. Stigma-Stop was applied to a sample of second-year university Psychology students to evaluate the game’s usefulness and appeal. The results demonstrate the importance of this game and that these students consider it to be highly useful. The most notable characteristics are described in depth in the present paper.