{"id":{"repo_id":"bradford","oai_identifier":"oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/20440"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/bradford/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/20440","repository":{"repo_id":"bradford","name":"University of Bradford","base_url":"https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The design and development of a serious game intervention to engage service users who experience psychosis and staff who work with them in activities that promote recovery","abstract":"Background: For those who experience serious mental illness (SMI), there is a poor fit between treatment provided and the meeting of service user need. Alternative explanations of mental illness and the recovery agenda have changed the way SMI is understood and treated. Serious games, by creating an entertaining and educational experience, have shown promise in the promotion of pro-health behaviours. By applying a research-through-design approach, this thesis will seek to create intermediate-level knowledge that is generative to the future design and development of serious games for the promotion of treatment for people who experience SMI. Method: Service Users who experience SMI and Staff who work with them were engaged in separate focus groups (N=43) and joint design workshops (N=22) to co-design and co-develop a serious game intervention. At each stage, design insights contemporaneous to that stage were identified and successively refined. Findings: The following five generalisable design insights of (1). Collaboration is possible with autonomy; (2). Engagement in learning content is best achieved via practical, applied, problem-based learning of psychosocial skills; (3). Learning is best achieved via discrete, repeatable, and measurable gameplay activities; (4). Collaboration and competition are compatible, and (5). Heuristics can inform the development of game concepts, were identified. Conclusion: The use of serious games to engage people who experience SMI in treatment is possible. However, to ensure engagement, designers need to create an entertaining and educational experience. This thesis provides the intermediate-level knowledge required for the designer to achieve this.","abstract_html":"Background: For those who experience serious mental illness (SMI), there is a poor fit between treatment provided and the meeting of service user need. Alternative explanations of mental illness and the recovery agenda have changed the way SMI is understood and treated. Serious games, by creating an entertaining and educational experience, have shown promise in the promotion of pro-health behaviours. By applying a research-through-design approach, this thesis will seek to create intermediate-level knowledge that is generative to the future design and development of serious games for the promotion of treatment for people who experience SMI. Method: Service Users who experience SMI and Staff who work with them were engaged in separate focus groups (N=43) and joint design workshops (N=22) to co-design and co-develop a serious game intervention. At each stage, design insights contemporaneous to that stage were identified and successively refined. Findings: The following five generalisable design insights of (1). Collaboration is possible with autonomy; (2). Engagement in learning content is best achieved via practical, applied, problem-based learning of psychosocial skills; (3). Learning is best achieved via discrete, repeatable, and measurable gameplay activities; (4). Collaboration and competition are compatible, and (5). Heuristics can inform the development of game concepts, were identified. Conclusion: The use of serious games to engage people who experience SMI in treatment is possible. However, to ensure engagement, designers need to create an entertaining and educational experience. This thesis provides the intermediate-level knowledge required for the designer to achieve this.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Fitzgerald, Martin"],"institution":"University of Bradford","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Randell, Rebecca","Hart, Andrew"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":null,"date_issued":"","date_published":null,"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:13:34Z","subjects":["Serious mental illness","Schizophrenia","Psychosis","Recovery","Serious games","Gamification","Agile","User centred design","Co-design","Generalisable design insights"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["\"Creative
The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a Creative Commons Licence."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/handle/10454/20440","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Randell, Rebecca","Hart, Andrew"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Fitzgerald, Martin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2025-06-04T12:49:02Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-06-04T12:49:02Z"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["School of Allied Health Professions and Midwifery. Faculty of Health Studies"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Bradford"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["PhD"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Serious mental illness","Schizophrenia","Psychosis","Recovery","Serious games","Gamification","Agile","User centred design","Co-design","Generalisable design insights"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["\"Creative
The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a Creative Commons Licence."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/handle/10454/20440"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Background: For those who experience serious mental illness (SMI), there is a poor fit between treatment provided and the meeting of service user need. Alternative explanations of mental illness and the recovery agenda have changed the way SMI is understood and treated. Serious games, by creating an entertaining and educational experience, have shown promise in the promotion of pro-health behaviours. By applying a research-through-design approach, this thesis will seek to create intermediate-level knowledge that is generative to the future design and development of serious games for the promotion of treatment for people who experience SMI. Method: Service Users who experience SMI and Staff who work with them were engaged in separate focus groups (N=43) and joint design workshops (N=22) to co-design and co-develop a serious game intervention. At each stage, design insights contemporaneous to that stage were identified and successively refined. Findings: The following five generalisable design insights of (1). Collaboration is possible with autonomy; (2). Engagement in learning content is best achieved via practical, applied, problem-based learning of psychosocial skills; (3). Learning is best achieved via discrete, repeatable, and measurable gameplay activities; (4). Collaboration and competition are compatible, and (5). Heuristics can inform the development of game concepts, were identified. Conclusion: The use of serious games to engage people who experience SMI in treatment is possible. However, to ensure engagement, designers need to create an entertaining and educational experience. This thesis provides the intermediate-level knowledge required for the designer to achieve this."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The design and development of a serious game intervention to engage service users who experience psychosis and staff who work with them in activities that promote recovery"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Randell, Rebecca","Hart, Andrew"],"dc:creator":["Fitzgerald, Martin"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2025-06-04T12:49:02Z"],"dc:date.available":["2025-06-04T12:49:02Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Background: For those who experience serious mental illness (SMI), there is a poor fit between treatment provided and the meeting of service user need. Alternative explanations of mental illness and the recovery agenda have changed the way SMI is understood and treated. Serious games, by creating an entertaining and educational experience, have shown promise in the promotion of pro-health behaviours. By applying a research-through-design approach, this thesis will seek to create intermediate-level knowledge that is generative to the future design and development of serious games for the promotion of treatment for people who experience SMI. Method: Service Users who experience SMI and Staff who work with them were engaged in separate focus groups (N=43) and joint design workshops (N=22) to co-design and co-develop a serious game intervention. At each stage, design insights contemporaneous to that stage were identified and successively refined. Findings: The following five generalisable design insights of (1). Collaboration is possible with autonomy; (2). Engagement in learning content is best achieved via practical, applied, problem-based learning of psychosocial skills; (3). Learning is best achieved via discrete, repeatable, and measurable gameplay activities; (4). Collaboration and competition are compatible, and (5). Heuristics can inform the development of game concepts, were identified. Conclusion: The use of serious games to engage people who experience SMI in treatment is possible. However, to ensure engagement, designers need to create an entertaining and educational experience. This thesis provides the intermediate-level knowledge required for the designer to achieve this."],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/handle/10454/20440"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher.department":["School of Allied Health Professions and Midwifery. Faculty of Health Studies"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Bradford"],"dc:rights":["\"Creative
The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a Creative Commons Licence."],"dc:subject":["Serious mental illness","Schizophrenia","Psychosis","Recovery","Serious games","Gamification","Agile","User centred design","Co-design","Generalisable design insights"],"dc:title":["The design and development of a serious game intervention to engage service users who experience psychosis and staff who work with them in activities that promote recovery"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["PhD"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:13:34Z"}