My monsters and I: Empowering resilience

The game develops in a playful way, concepts related to the mental well-being of girls (at the individual level), with the aim of promoting positive human potential. The dynamics of the game provide the reinforcement of positive behaviours linked to self-empowerment and the resilience in which we can help in decision-making and provoke the change. We know that games are very well accepted by teenagers around the world and we see in this solution an alternative to work on concepts of mental health and quality of life in a globally dimensioned and engaging way.

According World Health Organization (WHO) the empowerment is a core concept of WHO’s vision of health promotion. Its importance in disease prevention and health promotion is well recognized in the Declaration of Alma-Ata and the Ottawa Charter on Health Promotion. We understand that marginalized girls and adolescents need reinforcement in her mental health to have more favourable conditions to make decisions and directions in her lives. Our solution works with the promotion of self-empowerment and resilience in a playful way to involve young girls to learn how to deal with depression, perfectionism and anxiety, and that at the end of the gaming experience they feel more confident and secure to make decisions relevant to your future. According to the Mental Health in Numbers report by DGS (2015), there was an increase in the volume of premature death in the young population, with the growth of more than 1000 deaths from 2013 to 2014 being relevant among the female public. We understand that our solution can support the well-being and mental health of this population in order to prevent depression and increase self-empowerment and promote well-being in a pleasant and positive way.

My monsters and I is a platform video game that can be played on the computer. The main character (Anabela) must go through several stages, each representing an aspect of mental health (e.g. depression, perfectionism, and anxiety) that have been metaphorically transformed into monsters. The main character must be able to overcome the monsters and move from a darker world to a happier and brighter one. The main character must be able to integrate the monsters in her “self”. Initially she sees the monsters as scary, destructive and enemies. As she progresses through the game, she can change her perception and finally be able to live peacefully with these monsters inside. The game is being developed in the UNIT program and has the ability to be played without internet.

My monster and I is a game that targets young women aged 10 to 19. Currently, students from Portuguese public schools and universities are being involved in the project. We have knowledge and access to part of this population through a doctoral research that is underway and that addresses this age group. Game design, human centered design, design thinking and design for health methodologies were used, through interviews and tests with this target audience to create the prototype of this game. The main needs met involve the well-being of young women, promoting self-esteem, self-confidence, and resilience in a simple, fun, meaningful and memorable way. The game content is being developed in partnership with a mental health specialist. We understand that we solved the Learning for Girls and Women challenge indirectly, because we believe that effective learning needs first of all a behaviour change supported by strong decision making, and this is where our solution focuses. Finally, the game can also strengthen digital literacy skills, because girls will have contact with the computer.