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Abstract BackgroundPositive self-esteem predicts happiness and well-being and serves as a protective factor for favorable mental health. Scholarly gaming within the school setting may serve as a channel to deliver a mental health curriculum designed to improve self-esteem. ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate the impact of a scholarly gaming curriculum with and without an embedded preventive mental health curriculum, Mental Health Moments (MHM), on adolescents’ self-esteem. MethodsThe scholarly gaming curriculum and MHM were developed by 3 educators and a school-based health intervention expert. The scholarly gaming curriculum aligned with academic guidelines from the International Society for Technology Education, teaching technology-based career skills and video game business development. The curriculum consisted of 40 lessons, delivered over 14 weeks for a minimum of 120 minutes per week. A total of 83 schools with previous gaming engagement were invited to participate and 34 agreed. Schools were allocated to +MHM or –MHM arms through a matched pairs experimental design. The –MHM group received the scholarly gaming curriculum alone, whereas the +MHM group received the scholarly gaming curriculum plus MHM embedded into 27 lessons. MHM integrated concepts from the PERMA framework in positive psychology as well as the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) standards in education, which emphasize self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Participants in the study were students at schools offering scholarly gaming curricula and were enrolled at recruitment sites. Participants completed a baseline and postintervention survey quantifying self-esteem with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (score range 0-30). A score |
