At-Risk, a game designed to train university faculty in identifying, approaching, and referring students who exhibit signs of mental distress, was recently assessed in a national study at 42 universities across the U.S.  Findings for the study reveal the game’s effectiveness in improving users’ confidence, skill, and willingness to have conversations with troubled students in real life, supporting the idea that people can gain valuable practice in virtual environments that carries over to real-world applications.

About At-Risk

In At-Risk, users assume the role of a faculty member who is concerned about several of his students. Users analyze profiles of these students to identify those who are most at-risk and then engage those students in simulated conversations to determine whether and how to refer them to the campus counseling center. The virtual students are fully animated and possess their own emotional intelligence and memory.

Challenges in the game involve:

• Identifying at-risk students based on classroom symptomology
• Talking to students about their behaviors without stepping into the role of a counselor and/or making the students defensive
• Overcoming the students’ hesitations about counseling and getting them agree to make an appointment at the counseling center

The game is complete once users successfully identify and refer the three at-risk students.

At-Risk was created by Kognito Interactive, a learning simulations and games company in New York City in partnership with the Mental Health Association of New York City. Kognito created the game using its patent-pending Human Interaction Simulation Platform, which allows developers to create realistic conversations with virtual characters.  A demo of the game is available as well as the game trailer on the Kognito Interactive site.

The Study Results

The study included responses from faculty and staff at 42 universities, who completed At-Risk and then shared their feedback anonymously.

• 96% said role-play exercises with simulated conversations is an effective tool in preparing them for similar conversations in real life.
• 87% say they are now better prepared to identify, approach, and refer students exhibiting signs of mental distress.
• 82% say they are more confident in their ability to help suicidal students.
• 99% say the simulated conversations are realistic representations of conversations they had or are likely to have with at-risk students.
• 95% would recommend the game to their colleagues.

For more information about the study results, download the complete report.

About the Guest Contributor

Jenelle Boucher is the VP of Instructional Design at Kognito Interactive, a learning simulations and games company in New York City. In this role, Jenelle has planned, written, and managed the production of games, simulations, and other interactive learning experiences for organizations such as Starwood Hotels, The New York City Office of Emergency Management, and The City University of New York. Jenelle loves the art of teaching and believes that interactive learning is the most effective way to gain skills and knowledge that transfer to real-world situations.