Playing With Emotions: Evaluating a Serious Game to Promote Parents' Emotional Competencies Within the Family Context.

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Title: Playing With Emotions: Evaluating a Serious Game to Promote Parents' Emotional Competencies Within the Family Context.
Authors: Priego‐Ojeda, Maria1 maria.priego@udl.cat, Filella‐Guiu, Gemma1, Pérez‐Escoda, Núria2
Source: Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. Oct2025, Vol. 41 Issue 5, p1-18. 18p.
Subjects: Emotion regulation, Satisfaction, Research funding, Family conflict, T-test (Statistics), Statistical sampling, Parent-child relationships, Role playing, Questionnaires, Content analysis, Randomized controlled trials, Psychological well-being, Analysis of covariance, Control groups, Pre-tests & post-tests, Psychological stress, Research methodology, School children, Analysis of variance, Psychology of parents, Video games, Gamification, Relaxation techniques
Geographic Terms: Spain
Abstract: Background: Video games can be innovative, educational and therapeutic tools that have demonstrated positive outcomes in enhancing emotional skills. Many of these programmes have shown benefits in improving children and adolescents' emotional competencies, but there is a lack of research evidence on programmes that aim to intervene within the family context, putting the focus directly on parents. Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Happy for Families, a serious game developed to work on families' emotional competencies. Methods: A total of 129 Spanish parents, aged 34–60 (83.7% women), were evaluated to explore pretest and posttest measures of the competencies of emotional awareness and regulation, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, parental stress and life satisfaction. Parents were divided into three groups: parents who played with their children (PC), parents who played alone (P) and a control group. Results and Conclusions: The results evidenced that after the interaction with Happy for Families, the PC group reported increments in emotional awareness and regulation, as well as in the use of refocus on planning and positive reappraisal strategies compared to the P and the control group. No significant differences were found related to parental stress and satisfaction. Although future implementations of the video game would need to work on increasing the engagement of parents individually and not only in interaction with their children, these findings suggest that video games can be promising and easy‐to‐use tools to nurture parents' emotional competencies within the family setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Computer Assisted Learning is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Engineering Source
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PubType: Academic Journal
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  Data: Playing With Emotions: Evaluating a Serious Game to Promote Parents' Emotional Competencies Within the Family Context.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Priego‐Ojeda%2C+Maria%22">Priego‐Ojeda, Maria</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> maria.priego@udl.cat</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Filella‐Guiu%2C+Gemma%22">Filella‐Guiu, Gemma</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Pérez‐Escoda%2C+Núria%22">Pérez‐Escoda, Núria</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Computer+Assisted+Learning%22">Journal of Computer Assisted Learning</searchLink>. Oct2025, Vol. 41 Issue 5, p1-18. 18p.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Emotion+regulation%22">Emotion regulation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Satisfaction%22">Satisfaction</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Research+funding%22">Research funding</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Family+conflict%22">Family conflict</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22T-test+%28Statistics%29%22">T-test (Statistics)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Statistical+sampling%22">Statistical sampling</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Parent-child+relationships%22">Parent-child relationships</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Role+playing%22">Role playing</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Questionnaires%22">Questionnaires</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Content+analysis%22">Content analysis</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Randomized+controlled+trials%22">Randomized controlled trials</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Psychological+well-being%22">Psychological well-being</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Analysis+of+covariance%22">Analysis of covariance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Control+groups%22">Control groups</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Pre-tests+%26+post-tests%22">Pre-tests & post-tests</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Psychological+stress%22">Psychological stress</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Research+methodology%22">Research methodology</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22School+children%22">School children</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Analysis+of+variance%22">Analysis of variance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Psychology+of+parents%22">Psychology of parents</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Video+games%22">Video games</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Gamification%22">Gamification</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Relaxation+techniques%22">Relaxation techniques</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Spain%22">Spain</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Background: Video games can be innovative, educational and therapeutic tools that have demonstrated positive outcomes in enhancing emotional skills. Many of these programmes have shown benefits in improving children and adolescents' emotional competencies, but there is a lack of research evidence on programmes that aim to intervene within the family context, putting the focus directly on parents. Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Happy for Families, a serious game developed to work on families' emotional competencies. Methods: A total of 129 Spanish parents, aged 34–60 (83.7% women), were evaluated to explore pretest and posttest measures of the competencies of emotional awareness and regulation, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, parental stress and life satisfaction. Parents were divided into three groups: parents who played with their children (PC), parents who played alone (P) and a control group. Results and Conclusions: The results evidenced that after the interaction with Happy for Families, the PC group reported increments in emotional awareness and regulation, as well as in the use of refocus on planning and positive reappraisal strategies compared to the P and the control group. No significant differences were found related to parental stress and satisfaction. Although future implementations of the video game would need to work on increasing the engagement of parents individually and not only in interaction with their children, these findings suggest that video games can be promising and easy‐to‐use tools to nurture parents' emotional competencies within the family setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Computer Assisted Learning is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1111/jcal.70126
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 18
        StartPage: 1
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Emotion regulation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Satisfaction
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Research funding
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Family conflict
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: T-test (Statistics)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Statistical sampling
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Parent-child relationships
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Role playing
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Questionnaires
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Content analysis
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Randomized controlled trials
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychological well-being
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Analysis of covariance
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Control groups
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Pre-tests & post-tests
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychological stress
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Research methodology
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: School children
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Analysis of variance
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychology of parents
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Video games
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Gamification
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Relaxation techniques
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Spain
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Playing With Emotions: Evaluating a Serious Game to Promote Parents' Emotional Competencies Within the Family Context.
        Type: main
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          Name:
            NameFull: Priego‐Ojeda, Maria
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Filella‐Guiu, Gemma
      – PersonEntity:
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            NameFull: Pérez‐Escoda, Núria
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          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 10
              Text: Oct2025
              Type: published
              Y: 2025
          Identifiers:
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              Value: 02664909
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              Value: 41
            – Type: issue
              Value: 5
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            – TitleFull: Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
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