Six Power Steps

A Mental Illness VR game 2020

A project funded by Prince Sultan University, KSA. in 2020

Goal: This project received funding from The COVID19 Emergency Research Program at Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia. It comprises a digital platform that adopts an interdisciplinary approach to assist students to cope mentally and emotionally with the impact of COVID19  while gaining necessary digital skills. Thus the project is an opportunity for experimenting with a long term solution to assist students to get individualized help for their struggles. 

Audience: Students between 18-21+ who are experiencing anxiety and depression during Covid19

Problem: Studies have established that adolescents' degree of online social support improves the mental and physical impact of stressful life events in a way that temporarily lessens stress and anxiety (Leung 2007). There is an increased popularity of resorting to online platforms for social support (Barak, Boniel-Nissim and Suler 2008). In fact, we already know a great deal about how the Internet has altered how people search for health information, but less about how people seek and receive social support in this new age of information, which is critical for maintaining our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing (Egbert and Wright 2019). It is for example interesting that digital social support is available as a one-click affordance in social media while offering a form of PDA support (Carr, Wohn and Hayes 2016). Meanwhile, social support is linked to factors like intimacy and improved well-being (Lomanowska and Guitton 2016).  However, there is a considerable gap in the research relating digital social support being an emerging field of study. 

Technology: Immersive VR

Action: Co-PI: I conducted user research, user personas, recommended a psychologist (subject matter expert) for the project, designed the storyboard with the help of the psychologist.

Choices: The game is a meditation game where the player needs to face certain fears, listen to a therapist who gives feedback for every interaction made in the game, and helps the player overcome every step. This game was based on Neurolinguistic Programming.