Clinical trial NCT02710019: Good Shepherd: Back to Reality Series
Official title: Back to Reality Series - Harry's Journey: A Video Game About Under Age
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Knowledge
Keywords: marijuana use
psychosis
youth
video game
Lead sponsor: McMaster University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Good Shepherd Health Centre
First posted: 2016-03-16
Enrollment: 55
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 16
Maximum age (years): 19
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: 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.

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.

Eligibility criteria: 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.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Psychosis and Cannabis Quiz
timeFrame: 1.5 hour -Post video game playing
measure: Early Psychosis Literacy
timeFrame: 1.5 hour -Post video game playing
measure: Video Game Frequency
timeFrame: 1.5 hour -Post video game playing
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Hamilton
country: Canada
facility: Good Shepherd
state: Ontario
Study officials:
affiliation: McMaster University
name: Suzanne Archie, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Roberts MT, Lloyd J, Valimaki M, Ho GW, Freemantle M, Bekefi AZ. Video games for people with schizophrenia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021 Feb 4;2(2):CD012844. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012844.pub2.