A Dartmouth-developed game, PlaySmart, linked to modest improvements in depressive symptoms among teenagers, highlighting new potential for accessible prevention tools.
A video game built to teach teenagers how to handle pressure, spot distress in others and consider when to seek help has been linked to a modest improvement in depressive symptoms, according to research published in JAMA Network Open and reported by Healio. The game, PlaySmart, was created by the Dartmouth-based play2PREVENT group and uses interactive storylines that ask adolescents to make choices around prescription opioids, peer pressure, social media use and emotional support.
Caroline M. Barry, a postdoctoral research fellow at Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, said the aim was to reach young people in a format that already feels familiar. In comments to Healio, Barry said the project was designed with teenagers rather than simply for them, with young people helping shape the characters, language and scenarios so the material would feel realistic. The intervention also included minigames focused on risk assessment and decision-making, as well as text-based peer exchanges meant to build refusal skills and encourage help-seeking.
The randomised trial enrolled 532 adolescents aged 16 to 19, most of whom had mild symptoms of depression or anxiety at baseline and had used alcohol, cannabis, nicotine or another non-opioid substance in the previous month. Half played PlaySmart and the rest used commercial games such as The Sims and Papers, Please for similar amounts of time over six weeks. After 12 months, the PlaySmart group showed lower average depression scores than the control group, while anxiety scores did not differ meaningfully between the two groups.
The study also found that beliefs about psychological services improved more quickly among adolescents who played PlaySmart, and the researchers said those early attitude shifts partly explained the later drop in depressive symptoms. Barry told Healio that the size of the effect was modest, but said that prevention tools with low barriers to access could still matter at population level if they can be delivered widely. The team is now looking at how schools and community organisations might use the game in real-world settings, and whether pairing it with parent-focused support could strengthen the benefits.
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