Many youth experience mental health problems and digital games hold potential as mental health interventions. This systematic review provides an overview of randomised controlled studies assessing the effectiveness of digital applied and casual games for improving mental health in youth aged 6–24 years. A systematic search of PsycINFO, Web of Science and Pubmed yielded 145 eligible studies. Studies on (sub)clinical participant samples ( = 75) most often focused on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and anxiety. Applied games were found most effective for improving social skills, verbal memory and anxiety, whereas casual games were found most effective for improving depression, anxiety and ADHD. Studies involving healthy youth ( = 70) were grouped into papers examining anxiety in medical settings, momentary effects on positive and negative affect, and papers employing a longitudinal design measuring mental health trait outcomes. Promising results were found for the use of games as distraction tools in medical settings, and for applied and casual games for improving momentary affect. Overall, our findings demonstrate the potential of digital games for improving mental health. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed, such as developing evaluation guidelines, clearly defining applied games, harmonising outcome measures, including positive outcomes, and examining nonspecific factors that may influence symptom improvement as well.

中文翻译：

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应用游戏和休闲游戏对年轻人心理健康的有效性：随机对照研究的系统评价

许多青少年都经历过心理健康问题，而数字游戏具有作为心理健康干预措施的潜力。本系统综述概述了评估数字应用游戏和休闲游戏对改善 6-24 岁青少年心理健康的有效性的随机对照研究。对 PsycINFO、Web of Science 和 Pubmed 的系统检索产生了 145 项符合条件的研究。对（亚）临床参与者样本（= 75）的研究通常集中在注意力缺陷/多动障碍（ADHD）、自闭症和焦虑症上。研究发现，应用游戏对于改善社交技能、语言记忆和焦虑最有效，而休闲游戏对于改善抑郁、焦虑和多动症最有效。涉及健康青少年（= 70）的研究分为检查医疗环境中的焦虑、对积极和消极情感的瞬时影响的论文，以及采用纵向设计测量心理健康特征结果的论文。在医疗环境中使用游戏作为分散注意力的工具，以及使用应用游戏和休闲游戏来改善瞬间情感，都取得了有希望的结果。总的来说，我们的研究结果证明了数字游戏在改善心理健康方面的潜力。讨论了对未来研究的影响和建议，例如制定评估指南、明确定义应用游戏、协调结果测量（包括积极结果）以及检查可能影响症状改善的非特异性因素。