What did users want from a football-themed mental health app?

Details

Men have different mental health needs from women, while women are the primary audience for most digital mental health interventions. To address this, MindMax was developed as an Australian Football League (AFL)-themed app incorporating psychoeducation, gamification, mini-games, and social connection.

The study aimed to identify how best to structure and present MindMax, which aims to deliver psychoeducational modules and create a web-based community around well-being, AFL, and video games for men aged 16 to 35 who are interested in AFL or video games. Researchers held 6 participatory design (PD) workshops with people aged 16 to 35 in 3 Australian cities and contracted a digital development agency to develop the app. They then iteratively tested MindMax prototypes through 15 user experience testing interviews at 3 separate time points: 2 before launch and 1 after launch. The workshops involved 40 people (25 male and 15 female), and the user experience interviews involved 15 people (10 male and 5 female).

Participants generally preferred activities requiring active engagement that practiced useful skills. They were sensitive to how content was presented and wanted to customize their app experience. Although they agreed that social motivations were important for app engagement, they recommended against mimicking existing social networks.

Grounded strongly in AFL subculture and incorporating gamification and mini-games, MindMax aimed to address barriers to seeking mental health help among people who enjoy AFL or video games, particularly men, and provide psychoeducation on strategies to increase mental health and well-being. The authors suggested that if MindMax is successful, extending this approach to other traditional sports and competitive video gaming leagues (esports) could be fruitful.