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Evidence suggests supported living can improve functioning and reduce need. However, its lack of a clear definition has presented significant challenges to establishing a definitive evaluation of its efficacy. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a defined model of supported living using in terms of reductions made to aspects of clinical and social recovery.

A naturalistic, non-controlled assessment was conducting using using the Camberwell Assessment of Need Clinical Scale with a sample of adults with severe and enduring mental illness residing with a UK-based mental health company at 1 of 12 UK locations.

Analysis regarding preliminary outcomes relating to health and social need is presented with comparison between admission and six-months post-admission (N = 90). Additional analysis relating to outcomes at 12 months is also provided (N = 39). Significant outcomes are noted at both timepoints in terms of reducing unmet need and levels of formal and informal help given/required during tenancy.

The findings support that, even in the absence of clinical recovery, opportunities exist to make meaningful and valuable improvements to unmet need and functional independence, with implications for clinical practice in the context of supported living.

The findings provide encouraging early indications of the benefits of the model in making meaningful reductions to functional and psychological needs in individuals with severe and enduring mental illness.

The aim of this paper is to collate and discuss a number of key issues regarding the development, deployment and monitoring of games designed for therapeutic purposes.

The authors collate a number of core areas for consideration and offer suggestions regarding the challenges facing the field of therapeutic gaming.

In this paper, four major areas of interest are presented: ensuring and communicating therapeutic game effectiveness; data-security and management; effective game design; and barriers to therapeutic game uptake and engagement. Present implications of these issues are discussed and suggestions are provided for further research and to help move the field toward establishing consensus regarding standards of practice.

This paper represents, to best of the authors’ knowledge, the first of its kind in the field of therapeutic games to collate and address the core issues facing the development, deployment and growth of this potentially valuable medium.

The purpose of this paper is to outline a research protocol for an initial investigation into the efficacy of an early-development gamified intervention (“Wellbeing Town”) designed with potential end-users with the aim of improving adult wellbeing. Rationale for the proposed research is discussed along with a summary of the planned methodological approach.

Preliminary evaluation of “Wellbeing Town” is proposed to begin using a quasi-experiment, pre- vs post-intervention repeated-measures design with follow-up. Evaluation of changes in self-reported wellbeing will be supplemented with an investigation into the extent of self-directed play between post-intervention and follow-up, and its implications for follow-up outcome.

As this paper represents a protocol for future evaluation, no data is reported presently. The authors present the protocol for data analysis.

Once concluded, this study represents an initial evaluation of a gamified tool for adult wellbeing designed in conjunction with potential end-users. Should the game elicit significant improvements to wellbeing when played, proposals for further evaluation and possible future scalability are presented.

Self-efficacy is the bridge between theoretical knowledge of counselling and practical application of effective techniques (Akinlolu and Chukwudi, 2019). Furthermore, risk-assessment and management are fundamental components of counselling training and self-efficacy in these areas is central to ethical practice. Gamification represents an opportunity to increase motivation encouraging users to engage with serious content via an entertaining medium. This study aims to present two studies concerning an outline of the development process and an initial evaluation of “Perspective: Counselling Simulator”, a gamified training tool for developing and enhancing self-efficacy in risk-assessment skills in trainee counselling students in the UK.

This paper presents the development and initial user-evaluation of “Perspective”, as well as an initial evaluation of the game’s capacity to deliver risk-assessment education in a group of UK-based trainee counsellors to British Association for Counselling and Psychology (BACP) standards.

Firstly, mid-development assessment of a prototype-version of the game produced a good system usability score and positive user-feedback, while identifying areas for further improvement. Secondly, data relating to an initial evaluation of the efficacy of the game suggest that the game in its current form is significantly improved in terms of system usability and produces descriptive, albeit not statistically significant improvements to self-reported self-efficacy. Additional feedback was provided by users and further development and evaluation is planned.

This paper represents, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first of its kind in developing and evaluating a gamified tool with accessibility and scalability for teaching and consolidating risk-assessment skills of UK counselling students in-line with BACP standards.

This study aims to evaluate a novel mobile therapeutic videogame for adolescents with anxiety disorders (ADs), combining elements of cognitive-behavioural therapy and attention-bias modification, in terms of both its therapeutic efficacy over a controlled intervention and two-month follow-up, as well as the extent and implications of self-directed play.

A within-groups design with two parallel conditions [clinical anxiety (N = 16) and subclinical/at-risk (N = 15)] were measured on both self-reported anxiety and threat-detection bias (TDB) across three timepoints (pre- and post-intervention and two-month follow-up).

Significant reductions were observed in both self-reported state and trait anxiety and TDB over the course of the two-week intervention, which were maintained at follow-up. Engagement in self-directed play during the follow-up period significantly predicted outcomes at two-month follow-up for clinical participants.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper represents the first of its kind to evaluate a mobile therapeutic game designed with and solely for adolescents with ADs. This study also represents the first of its kind to examine the extent and implications of self-directed play for outcomes.