Augmented Social Play (ASP): smartphone-enabled group psychotherapeutic interventions that boost adolescent mental health by supporting real-world connection and sense of belonging

The goal of the project is to develop Augmented Social Play (ASP), a digital mental health intervention format. ASP is a serious game for smartphones based on augmented reality. Used for group psychotherapeutic interventions in everyday settings, ASP can be used to create supportive communities for adolescents. The ASP app can be used as a digital high quality solution for prevention and promotion in the field of Mental Health. ASP is particularly easy to implement and will be available to schools free of charge.

As part of the project, the Department of Biomedical and Health Care Ethics will develop an empirical evidence-based framework for user-centered design and use of ASP to be used in formulating goals, identifying risks, and developing strategies to mitigate risks. Among other things, undesirable cognitive or emotional effects should be prevented. In particular, intensive engagement with Mental Health experiences can be associated with stress and stigma for vulnerable youth if not adequately managed. Our contribution to the project is the design of an evidence-based ethical framework that focuses on the complexity of designing ASP for adolescents, implementing the principle of user-centered design. For this purpose, methods of Constructive Technology Assessments (CTA) are applied to the specific circumstances of serious games development and combined with an embedded ethics approach. A central component here is the implementation of an Open Science Codevelopment approach, in which socio-technical scenarios are developed. In the context of stakeholder workshops, these form the basis for a multi-perspective elaboration of ethical aspects.