Development and User Satisfaction of “Plan-It Commander,” a Serious Game for Children with ADHD

TLDR

Gamified behavioral training is needed to engage children with ADHD, yet existing programs fail to demonstrate generalization of in‑game skills to daily life. The authors created Plan‑It Commander to teach time‑management, planning, and prosocial skills to children with ADHD and evaluated user satisfaction via a 42‑participant survey. An interdisciplinary team designed the game using Self‑Regulation, Social Cognitive, and Learning theories, integrating these principles into its content and structure. Survey results showed high user satisfaction, supporting further development and highlighting the value of incorporating user feedback into serious‑game design.

Abstract

The need for engaging treatment approaches within mental health care has led to the application of gaming approaches to existing behavioral training programs (i.e., gamification). Because children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) tend to have fewer problems with concentration and engagement when playing digital games, applying game technologies and design approaches to complement treatment may be a useful means to engage this population in their treatment. Unfortunately, gamified training programs currently available for ADHD have been limited in their ability to demonstrate in-game behavior skills that generalize to daily life situations. Therefore, we developed a new serious game (called "Plan-It Commander") that was specifically designed to promote behavioral learning and promotes strategy use in domains of daily life functioning such as time management, planning/organizing, and prosocial skills that are known to be problematic for children with ADHD. An interdisciplinary team contributed to the development of the game. The game's content and approach are based on psychological principles from the Self-Regulation Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and Learning Theory. In this article, game development and the scientific background of the behavioral approach are described, as well as results of a survey (n = 42) to gather user feedback on the first prototype of the game. The findings suggest that participants were satisfied with this game and provided the basis for further development and research to the game. Implications for developing serious games and applying user feedback in game development are discussed.