Contributions of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are developing at a rapid pace and, due to their enormous potential, they can lead to improvements in existing treatments, particularly with regard to effectiveness and clinical utility (Botella et al., 2009; Bretón-López et al., 2017; Flujas-Contreras & Gómez, 2017).

Among the most recent technological innovations applied to the treatment of mental disorders, serious games can be used as complementary tools in combination with standard treatments, enabling more situational and ecological assessments and, therefore, diagnoses that are better aligned with everyday life events. The distinguishing feature of these games compared with conventional ones is that they are designed for a purpose beyond pure entertainment, while still maintaining their playful nature, which facilitates motivation and adherence among children and adolescents (Tarrega, 2015).

Among the advantages of this ICT modality is that it allows users to assume certain roles with responsibility, involving a set of competencies that prepare them for real-life conditions within a specific area designed by instructors so that they can appropriately assume a role when facing real situations. In addition, they support the structuring of language and thought, systematically influence psychosomatic balance, enable meaningful learning experiences, encourage active participation by the player, and promote creativity, intellectual competence, emotional strength, and personal stability (Chipia, 2011). A review by Colombo et al. (2019) highlights the usefulness of new technologies for the assessment and intervention of emotion regulation (ER), considering the added value of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and the use of sensors already incorporated into or connectable with devices that can provide greater evidence and reliability in ER measurement.

Serious games have been used in multiple fields during adolescence, for example in the prevention of violence (Bosworth et al., 1998), promotion of healthy habits (Lezin & Thouin, 2000), prevention of alcohol abuse in adolescents for mental rehabilitation (Schinke et al., 2006), and intervention in autism spectrum disorders (Tang et al., 2019). In clinical practice, serious games have begun to be used to improve emotional competencies and other skills related to impulse control (Fagundo et al., 2014; Giner-Bartolomé et al., 2015; Rodríguez et al., 2015), as well as with adolescents to improve emotion regulation strategies (Beatriz, 2015). Moreover, for decades ICTs have also provided tools for assessment, diagnosis, and neuropsychological rehabilitation through software, virtual reality, mobile apps, and serious games (García, 2016; López-Cortés et al., 2024). Representative examples of these tools include Aula Nesplora, which assesses sustained attention, auditory and visual divided attention, impulsivity, inhibition and/or distractibility, excessive motor activity, information processing, and speed; and the Ice Cream App by Nesplora, which evaluates executive functions such as planning, working memory, and cognitive flexibility.

In this symposium, the first presentation provides a review of the use of ICTs in Clinical and Health Psychology in childhood, adolescence, and families, including an analysis of the key elements required to ensure that an app can be useful for intervention, with special attention to innovative components in Third-Wave Therapies and to empirical support from efficiency reviews.

The second presentation focuses on the usefulness of serious games as an intervention format for children and adolescents, analyzing gamification systems that help improve users’ motivation and adherence, as well as facilitate the acquisition of emotional competencies and a connection between skills developed within the game environment and actions aligned with personal values in everyday life. This will be illustrated through the serious game “SaEm Island”, designed to intervene in psychological flexibility and emotion regulation in adolescents.

The third presentation introduces the clinical protocol underlying the SaEm Island Serious Game, establishing the equivalence between mini-games and the clinical objectives and components of the intervention. Specifically, within the narrative of a game in which an avatar must help restore the world of emotions after it has been invaded by a monster, participants move through different scenarios in which they practice and learn strategies for emotion regulation and psychological flexibility, including emotional psychoeducation, acceptance, values clarification and commitment to actions aligned with those values, cognitive distancing or defusion, mindfulness, perspective taking, and self-knowledge.

The fourth presentation describes the usefulness of the Ice Cream App for neuropsychological assessment, through the analysis of different measures in a large sample of children, supporting diagnosis in the context of a Neurorehabilitation Institute (Imparables). Specifically, Ice Cream ecologically measures key executive functions in a game scenario in which the participant simulates being an ice-cream vendor; to complete the task correctly, the participant must determine the order in which to serve the ice creams (planning), remember the recipe book (working memory), and adapt when the recipe book changes throughout the task (cognitive flexibility).