New Study on Therapeutically Applied RPGs Published in the Journal of Creativity in Mental Health

Findings from the study suggest that virtually delivered TA-RPG groups may be a cost-effective and accessible intervention to support youth during the pandemic and beyond.

Senior Researcher Jennifer Rubin recently published a new article in the Journal of Creativity in Mental Health. The article, “Therapeutically Applied RPGs to Support Adolescent Social Connection and Growth During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” was authored alongside researchers Elizabeth Kilmer, Michael Scanlon, and Jared Kilmer.

The COVID-19 pandemic’s negative impact on youth social and emotional health in the United States and worldwide is well documented. This study explores the ways in which virtually delivered Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games (TA-RPGs) can support youth social and emotional development. The study used caregiver and youth interviews to to explore youth participants’ descriptions of their experiences with TA-RPGs, social and emotional development, and online programming during the pandemic.

Benefits of the intervention included social connections with peers, practice with challenging scenarios, opportunities for self-expression, practice perspective taking, and engagement with storytelling and creativity. There may also be benefits to virtually delivered TA-RPG groups during the pandemic, as noted by participant reports in the areas of social connections and collaborative problem solving. The findings suggest that these groups may be a cost-effective and accessible intervention to support youth during the pandemic and beyond.

“One of the most interesting findings from this study is that virtually-delivered TA-RPGs provide youth an opportunity to foster social perspective-taking,” said Rubin. “Young people in this study expressed that many of these opportunities emerged naturally given the fantasy elements of the game — choices youth made in the game were often based on their character’s perspective and required them to understand the perspectives of other characters before moving forward in a campaign.”

This new, open access article is now available to read online in the Journal of Creativity in Mental Health.