Gamified Digital Intervention to Enhance the Efficacy of Exposure Therapy for OCD

April 23, 2026 updated by: Idaho State University

Aim 1 - Clinically analyze the game Militant of the Maze (MoM) as a vehicle for Exposure Theory, including, play, observation, and feedback from five clinicians. MoM, developed in our lab, emphasizes the significance of controlled alternation, while achieving a goal of an individual suffering from OCD who considers that there is only one optimal way of solving a problem. Since this game is already developed in the PI's research lab, this can accommodate OCD treatment strategies, a significant amount of time can be conserved. While the game runs on hand-held devices, all proposed subject testing will be conducted in the laboratory.

Aim 2: Based on the feedback, modifications will be made in MoM to inject narrative, mechanics, and gameplay to address the features of Exposure Therapy that aims to deal with the ob- session/compulsion of cleanliness. One of the key mechanisms of this game will be exposing the patients to simulated human sneezing by using animated splashes of droplets on the screen that the patent will need to wipe without becoming agitated.

Aim 3: Once the game is developed, another round of laboratory case study will be conducted. In the first phase of this round of study, 5 clinicians will play the game to evaluate the revised game MoMG. In the next phase, 5 carefully-selected non-clinician participants will play the game. under real-time observation of clinicians, to ensure that subjects experience no harm, and that the gameplay is interesting and enjoyable. Observational data, including stress measures such as real- time heart rate will be collected, along with verbal protocol and video recording for further analysis, game enhancement, and testing as an exposure therapy mechanism.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

A laboratory experiment will be conducted to analyze the playability and feasibility of the proposed game as an effective tool of Exposure Therapy to treat people with cleanliness OCD. The experimental procedure will include the following 3 steps-

  1. Initially the aim is to recruit 5 clinicians to play the existing MoM game in a controlled environment. The goal is to congregate their collective feedback about the existing game as well as additional features that needs to be implemented to comprise Exposure Therapy to treat OCD with cleanliness. In addition, a feasibility analysis will be conducted to the proposed gameplay. With these assessments, implementation process will be initiated.
  2. A newer and updated version of the game MoM will be implemented based on the outcome of the analysis conducted in the first phase of this experiment. Upon the completion of the development procedure several test runs will be operated to ensure the playability and quality of the game.
  3. A second round of data collection will be conducted with a sample size of 10 subjects. In this second round in is intended to recruit both clinicians and non-clinicians as participants of the study. While recruiting, it will be ensured none of the the participants have OCD or other germaphobia. This experiment as well will be conducted in a controlled environment with a goal to ensure that this game does not harm any individual and the gameplay is enjoyable. Data will be collected through various media. Players' certain actions and interactions (e.g. cognitive pause) will be logged in the back end during the gameplay. After certain gameplay, the players' will be provided survey questionnaires, which will long their positive and negative experience and the intrinsic motivation of the gameplay. In addition, to avoid any bias, observational data will be logged through video recording.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

10

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 Contact

Study Contact Backup

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Must be a clinician (for Group 1)
  • Must be an adult with no symptom of OCD/phobia (for Group 2)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Less than 18 years of age

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: Device Feasibility
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Round 1
Initially the aim is to recruit 5 clinicians to play the existing MoM game in a controlled environment. The goal is to congregate their collective feedback about the existing game as well as additional features that needs to be implemented to comprise Exposure Therapy to treat OCD with cleanliness. In addition, a feasibility analysis will be conducted to the proposed gameplay described in section 3.1.1. With these assessments, implementation process will be initiated.
Device: Gamified Digital Intervention - Feasibility Analysis on MoM
In first round we aim to clinically analyze the game Militant of the Maze (MoM) as a vehicle for Exposure Theory, including, play, observation, and feedback from five clinicians.
Experimental: Round 2
A second round of data collection will be conducted with a sample size of 10 subjects (5 clinicians and 5 non-clinician adults). In this second round it is intended to recruit both clinicians and non-clinicians as participants of the study. In the first phase of this study, the clinicians will play the game MoMG to carefully review the revised version of the game. In the second phase the non-clinicians will play the game in presence of clinicians with a goal to ensure that this game does not harm and the gameplay is enjoyable to the participants. While recruiting the non clinicians, it will be ensured via screening that none of the the participants have OCD or other germaphobia.
Device: Gamified Digital Intervention
In the first phase of round 2 of the study, 5 clinicians will play the game to evaluate the revised game MoMG. In the next phase, 5 carefully-selected non-clinician participants will play the game. under real-time observation of clinicians, to ensure that subjects experience no harm, and that the gameplay is interesting and enjoyable.
Other Names:
  • Gamified Digital Intervention - Analyzing MoMG

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Measuring the heart rate control of the player
Time Frame: 2-3 months
A measurement of heart rate of the player will be recorded during the gameplay of MoM
2-3 months
Measuring Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ)
Time Frame: 2-3 months
The Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ) was designed by IJsselsteijn et al. in 2013 to assess the game experience of an individual. This questionnaire comprises three modules: The Core Questionnaire, The Social Presence Module, and The Post-game Module. The evaluation of the game experience is done based on seven components: Immersion, Flow, Competence, Positive and Negative Affect, Tension, and Challenge. It contains 33 questions in total for all seven elements Each question is associated with a 5-point Likert scale where 0 represents not at all and 4 signifies extremely. For this experiment, only Immersion, Flow, Challenge, Positive Affect, and Negative Affect have been considered
2-3 months
Measuring Intrinsic Motivational Inventory (IMI)
Time Frame: 2-3 months
The Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) is a constructive measurement system to assess an individual's subjective experience related to a target activity in laboratory experiments. Through this, it is possible to assess 7 sub-scales: Interest/Enjoyment, Perceived Competence, Effort/Importance, Pressure/Tension, Perceived Choice,Value/Usefulness, and Relatedness. Each subscale consists of a number of statements. One can respond to the subscales on a scale of 1 to 7 where 1 is not at all true and 7 signifies very true. For this experiment, only the level of Interest/Enjoyment, Perceived Competence, Effort/Importance, and Pressure/Tension were observed
2-3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Idaho State University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Farjana Z Eishita, PhD, Assistant Professor

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 (Estimated)

April 30, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 3, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 28, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

May 9, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 29, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 23, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IRB-FY2023-154

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

IPD Plan Description

Once the study is completed data analysis will be conducted and then the decision will be made based on the outcome.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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.

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