Improving the Emotional Health of Juveniles with VR Game

This paper presents the developmental process and preliminary results of testing a game-based intervention aimed at promoting emotional health among adolescents between the ages of 13-17 years. There are more than 20 million adolescents between those ages living in the United States. Stress plays a significant factor in the physical, emotional, and psychological well-being of individuals and may particularly affect the quality of life of children. Previous 2D serious games have been developed to give children an avenue to escape from stressors, however many of these games lacked realism and were not as attractive. We designed and developed a virtual reality (VR) game aimed at improving the social and emotional well-being of adolescents. Due to its immersive nature, our preliminary data showed that the VR game was effective in enhancing the emotional well-being of adolescents. Further studies will be needed to be undertaken to confirm its effectiveness in other groups of people.