NCT05702086

Making SPARX Fly in Nunavut: Pilot Testing an E-intervention for Boosting Resilience Against Youth Depression

Evaluating the Utility of a Psychoeducational Serious Game (SPARX) in Protecting Inuit Youth From Depression: A Pilot Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 48 (actual)
• Sponsor: York University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 13 Years – 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The goal of this pilot trial was to test SPARX with Inuit youth in Northern Canada. SPARX is an educational video game designed to teach cognitive behavioural therapy strategies and techniques. This "serious game" has previously shown promise in addressing symptoms of depression with Māori youth in New Zealand. Researchers in this study tested SPARX's suitability with Inuit youth in the territory of Nunavut using surveys that youth completed before and after gameplay. Hypothesis 1: Youth who completed SPARX were expected to experience a decrease in depressive symptoms and risk factors related to depression. Hypothesis 2: Youth who completed the SPARX program were expected to experience an increase in factors related to resilience. A team of Nunavut-based community mental health staff facilitated youth's participation in this remote pilot trial with 24 youth aged 13-18 across 11 communities in Nunavut. These youth had been identified by community facilitators as showing low mood, depression, and/or significant levels of stress.

Conditions

• Depressive Symptoms
• Emotion Regulation

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	SPARX (Smart, Positive, Active, Realistic, X-Factor thoughts)	SPARX (Smart, Positive, Active, Realistic, X-Factor thoughts) is a psychoeducational serious game (an e-intervention that utilizes gaming for serious purposes) that teaches established cognitive behavioural therapy strategies and techniques across seven levels or modules. The game is designed to address depressive symptoms in youth by helping them cope with negative thoughts and feelings, represented in the game as GNATs-Gloomy Negative Automatic Thoughts. SPARX was originally designed and developed at the University of Auckland with the specific needs of certain underserved groups of youth in mind, including Māori rangatahi, the Indigenous young people of Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-09-08
• Primary completion: 2015-04-22
• Completion: 2015-04-22
• First posted: 2023-01-27
• Last updated: 2023-01-31

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada