LINA -- A social augmented reality game around mental health, supporting real-world connection and sense of belonging for early adolescents

TL;DR

LINA is an augmented reality game designed for early adolescents to enhance peer interaction, sense of belonging, and mental health awareness through collaborative gameplay in a school setting.

Contribution

The paper introduces LINA, a novel AR serious game developed with interdisciplinary input to promote social connection and mental health among early adolescents.

Findings

High acceptability among participants

Preliminary evidence of improved peer interaction

Positive feedback on game usability

Abstract

Early adolescence is a time of major social change; a strong sense of belonging and peer connectedness is an essential protective factor in mental health during that period. In this paper we introduce LINA, an augmented reality (AR) smartphone-based serious game played in school by an entire class (age 10+) together with their teacher, which aims to facilitate and improve peer interaction, sense of belonging and class climate, while creating a safe space to reflect on mental health and external stressors related to family circumstance. LINA was developed through an interdisciplinary collaboration involving a playwright, software developers, psychologists, and artists, via an iterative co-development process with young people. A prototype has been evaluated quantitatively for usability and qualitatively for efficacy in a study with 91 early adolescents (agemean=11.41). Results from the Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS-18) and data from qualitative focus groups showed high acceptability and preliminary efficacy of the game. Using AR, a shared immersive narrative and collaborative gameplay in a shared physical space offers an opportunity to harness adolescent affinity for digital technology towards improving real-world social connection and sense of belonging.