Good Shepherd: Back to Reality Series

November 5, 2020 updated by: McMaster University

Back to Reality Series - Harry's Journey: A Video Game About Under Age

The purpose of this pilot study is to explore whether the Back to Reality series of video games - Harry's Journey, Harry's Journal, and Pathways to care map - increase knowledge of the emotional, social, and psychiatric sequelae of problematic underage marijuana use among homeless and street involved youth. Additional objectives were to explore whether the video games promote awareness of the risk of psychosis associated with regular marijuana use among vulnerable youth.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This project pilots the use of educational video games designed to help youth gain awareness of the risk of mental health issues associated with regular marijuana use. By playing the Back to Reality video games, youths may absorb knowledge about where and how to access community care for symptoms associated with psychosis and problematic cannabis use. The purpose of this study is to pilot test the use of the Back to Reality series at increasing awareness of the social and emotional implications of underage substance use.

This study explores the effects of the Back to Reality video games compared to control video games (no content about mental health and addiction). Street involved and homeless youth registered with Good Shepherd services between the ages of 16 and 19 years of age will be recruited. The results will be assessed using quantitative questionnaires and qualitative interviews. The data will be statistically analyzed for significant differences in knowledge about the risk of psychosis linked to marijuana use among vulnerable youth. The qualitative interview assesses the participants understanding and views of potential emotional, social, and psychiatric sequelae associated with excessive marijuana use during.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

55

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8R 2B3
        • Good Shepherd

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

16 years to 19 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Homeless or street involved youth
  • Registered at any of the Good Shepherd Hamilton Youth programs
  • Male, female, or transgender youth from 16-19 years of age as of visit 1.
  • Outpatient status
  • Each youth must understand the nature this study and sign informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Youth judged by Good Shepherd staff to be at serious suicidal risk.
  • Youth who are being discharged from Good Shepherd programming.
  • Youth who are currently admitted in an in-patient unit at a hospital.
  • Youth who scores 5 or more on the Video Game Playing Problems questionnaire (Teijeiro Salguero & Bersabé-Morán, 2002).
  • Youth who do not have the capacity to provide informed consent.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Psychoeducational video games
Participants in this group will play the Back to Reality Series video games: (1) Harry's Journey which delivers experiential knowledge about psychosis and marijuana use; (2) Harry's Journal which challenges their understanding of 12 psychiatric symptoms associated with psychosis and (3) the PathwaysToCare Map which uses colourful 3D images and voice-overs to depict actual mental health and addictions services for youth available in Hamilton. These in
Other: Back to Reality Series Video Games
Back to Reality Series are a psycho-educational video games that provide information about psychosis and marijuana use from the perspective of 'Harry': a character who experiences problems with both issues. The aim is for players to learn how to detect some signs of psychosis and where to seek help for mental health and addictions problems.
Other Names:
  • Harry's Journal, Harry's Journey, Harry's PathwaysToCare map
Other: Control video game
The control video game is a spelling/memory quiz involving with themes from pop culture. The control game will not provide any education about mental health and addictions issues It should be noted that all participants will play both sets of games during their initial and only visit. Participants are randomized to determine which game they will play first during this visit. This is not an RCT or a crossover design. There is no follow up or clinical assessments.
Other: Control Video Game
The control video game consists of digital puzzles and spelling game about pop culture. The control games does not have any content related to mental health and addictions problems
Other Names:
  • Morpheus' Spell

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Psychosis and Cannabis Quiz
Time Frame: 1.5 hour -Post video game playing
Assess for significant differences in the responses between randomized intervention (Back to Reality series) group versus a control game group with respect to Psychosis and Cannabis Quiz measure. Effect will be tested at a 2-sided α level of 0.05.
1.5 hour -Post video game playing
Early Psychosis Literacy
Time Frame: 1.5 hour -Post video game playing
Assess for significant differences in the responses between randomized intervention (Back to Reality series) group versus a control game group with respect to Early Psychosis Literacy measure. Effect will be tested at a 2-sided α level of 0.05.
1.5 hour -Post video game playing
Video Game Frequency
Time Frame: 1.5 hour -Post video game playing
Assess for significant differences in the responses between randomized intervention (Back to Reality series) group versus a control game group with respect to Video Game Frequency measure. Effect will be tested at a 2-sided α level of 0.05.
1.5 hour -Post video game playing

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

McMaster University

Collaborators

Good Shepherd Health Centre

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Suzanne Archie, MD, McMaster University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 5, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 18, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

April 18, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 26, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 10, 2016

First Posted (Estimate)

March 16, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 9, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 5, 2020

Last Verified

September 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • McMaster_University

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Knowledge

Clinical Trials on Back to Reality Series Video Games

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Estonia

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe