DIGITAL LIFE

Created a psychological test to evaluate video game disorder

The test is a psychometric instrument that was tested in a sample of 550 students from the United Kingdom and China and who presented "very satisfactory" results, the researcher and psychologist Halley Pontes of the University of Tasmania (Australia) told Lusa today.
"What has happened is that through a simple set of four questions we can proceed to a diagnosis and evaluate the severity of the symptoms" of the players, said Halley Pontes, who led the team of researchers who created this tool and developed the study with the sample of students, to be published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addictions.
Halley Pontes explained that the "work results from the consensus that the World Health Organization [WHO] arrived last weekend on the official status of the game disorder" as a psychiatric disorder related to "excessive and pathological use of video games ".
According to the WHO definition, this pattern of behavior must have been evident for a minimum period of 12 months and have resulted in a significant impairment in family life, work and education.
For the study, two online platforms were created, one in Germany (www.gaming-disorder.org) and another in the UK (www.do-i-play-too-much-videogames.com) that allow people who actively play on the computer, cell phone or console answering some questions and immediately get a response on "how they engage with video games" whether it is a pathological or normal involvement.
The online questionnaire is based on WHO criteria and records the activities of the last twelve months on a scale of one (never plays) to five (very often).
The study's main findings indicate that "the new WHO clinical framework that defines video game disorder is robust and can be verified empirically with the data collected," said Halley Bridges.
Data show that, on average, students surveyed play 12 hours a week, spending almost half of this time (46%) on weekends alone in front of a computer or other mobile devices. There were also 36 participants (6.4%) who reported major problems on a daily basis due to their behavior.
Halley Pontes explained that video game disorder is "an inability" for players to control their obsessive behavior, which is also reflected in the "exponential increase in the priority that the person gives to the game to the point of stifling other interests and daily activities" and continue to play even knowing that "there are areas of your life that are being adversely affected."
The next step of the researchers from the universities of Tasmania, Birkbeck (London), Beijing and Ulm (Germany) is the realization of the "largest study" on gaming disorder, having for that purpose created a partnership with the eSports company 'ESL, with close ties to the gaming community,' a potentially at-risk audience '.
The new study aims to understand how the game is becoming a health problem and what factors contribute to it, including sociodemographic variables, personality and motivations.
For Halley Pontes, the WHO decision will "help these suffering people to find validation for their psychological distress and potentially also serve to develop policies to help them get treatment in the national health system." Lusa Agency