Author: Benjamin Christopher Homm

Title: Gamifcation for Mental Health: Designing a Supportive Treatment Concept for Depression in Young Adults

Issued on: 21.04.2021

Submitted on: 19.10.2021

Institution: Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt

Study Program: User Experience Design

Source: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-haw/files/2189/I001006828Thesis.pdf

Even though right now I am focusing more on physical health problems rather than mental health problems, I chose this thesis in particular because it seemed like a well put together thesis that focused on design and the creation of actual prototypes. All the other theses I looked at didn’t really feature design elements.

(1)   Level of design

In terms of aesthetics the work is kept rather simple but keeps a coherent and appealing design throughout. In terms of how design was used in the work, multiple design methods and frameworks were utilized showing a deeper understanding of design and its scientific methods. The author used UX need cards, ideation tools such as mind maps and post it sorting, personas, empathy maps, storyboarding, crazy 8 method, paper prototypes and much more.

(2) Degree of innovation

In this field of mental health problems digital solutions and gamified approaches already exist but it is not very widespread so the topic itself is still very novel. The author definitely found his research gap and was able to conduct new and relevant research and also create a function prototype based upon his new research.

(3) Independence

Though the work is based on a lot of existing research and frameworks, the author did a lot of work on his own. Surveys, user tests and expert interviews were conducted, the findings analyzed, and an app prototype was created. All of this shows a strong self-driven approach to the whole thesis.

(4) Outline and structure

The thesis is structured in a very clear way. First the two main topics of depression and gamification are explored and analyzed. After that the use of gamification for mental health specifically is discussed. After this theoretical part comes the practical part. People suffering from depression are surveyed and the results are used to create personas and storyboards. Expert interviews are also held. Furthermore, potential competitors are analyzed. After doing research the author begins designing and creating a prototype app.

(5) Degree of communication

The author uses concise language as well as specialist terms but makes sure to explain them. Concepts are explained in a easily digestible manner. Furthermore, the goals, process and findings are effectively communicated. It was always clear how the author arrived at his conclusions and it felt like all the information was given and nothing was omitted.

(6) Scope of the work

The scope is comprehensive, addressing depression’s complexities, integrating gamification, and developing a working prototype evaluated across multiple stages, making the project ambitious yet well-contained. The scope of the project was set correctly in my opinion – it wasn’t too ambitious and the most focus was on the research. The prototype is rather simple but well designed and thought out, with appealing visuals.

(7) Orthography and accuracy

As previously mentioned, the author uses concise language but also uses specialist terms. I didn’t find any errors while reading. The writing style could have been more academic at certain points but as a whole I think the work is quite well written.

(8) Literature

The literature used was well chosen and many works were used – 80 references in total are given. Most of them are books or papers though some online resources were also used. The sources range from gamification to depression to design. Because I have done some research into this field already, I was able to recognize some of the most popular sources on these fields and saw that the author used those. Some contemporary sources were also used as evident by the mentioning of covid-19.

To summarize, the work itself is structured in a clear and logical way. The scope was set right, and a lot of research was done which culminated in a successful prototype. I personally quite enjoyed reading this master thesis and would rate it quite highly.