Board games on emotional competences for school-age children

Article Article scientifique Article Board games on emotional competences for school-age children eng 2020 author Dell'Angela Linda 780993 author Zaharia Alexandra 734861 author Lobel Adam 866642 author Vico Begara Ornella 731172 author Sander David 558712 author Samson Andrea Christiane 834953 187-196 10.1089/g4h.2019.0050 32053027 2161-783X https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/g4h.2019.0050 Objective: Emotional competences (EC) are important for social and academic outcomes and positive life trajectories. Due to their social setting and tendency to stimulate intrinsic motivation, board games may constitute efficient learning tools for promoting socioemotional development in children. The current project therefore aimed at developing and testing three theory-driven board games explicitly targeting EC. First, we explored the quality of these EC games in terms of game experience, compared to off-the-shelf games (without an EC focus). Second, we tested whether targeted EC were linked to game experience in the EC games by measuring associations between children's trait EC and subjective effort and difficulty during gameplay. Materials and Methods: Children (N = 177) aged 8–12 years old were randomly assigned to a four-session protocol that comprised EC board games (experimental group) or off-the-shelf board games (control group). At baseline, participants' trait EC (emotion recognition, differentiation, and cognitive reappraisal) were assessed, while game experience (e.g., positive and negative affect, flow and immersion, difficulty, and effort) was assessed after each game. Results: Both groups perceived the games they played as positive and playable. Furthermore, regression analyses showed that higher trait EC was linked to lower self-reported effort and difficulty in two of the EC board games focusing on emotion recognition and differentiation. Conclusion: The present study shows that the board games on EC designed for children seem to elicit game experiences comparable to off-the-shelf games. Moreover, children's trait EC were linked to subjective game experience in two of the three games. Future interventions should examine the potential of the novel games to promote EC. Emotional competences Emotion recognition Emotion differentiation Cognitive reappraisal Play Board games Dewey 128.37 Dewey 150 15 Centre interfacultaire en sciences affectives 0D8 108 Section de psychologie 71 false 1241 Affective sciences Games for health journal 9 3 55f39a2b-693c-4c30-8662-6e19cd3ff2e4 Article (Published version) Public g4h.2019.0050.pdf 144956 application/pdf OA OTHER ff6a3db6-9aad-4499-9ab7-135a52cd1296 Appendix Public supp_data.pdf 37146 application/pdf OA OTHER e760faf3-2840-4c24-87b0-c9fa187e6575 Appendix Public supp_tables1.pdf 30918 application/pdf 2119e0d0-7576-4458-afd9-19a9a1d5c03a Appendix Public supp_tables2.pdf 29149 application/pdf OA OTHER openAccess Centres et instituts / Centre interfacultaire en sciences affectives Faculté de psychologie et des sciences de l'éducation / Section de psychologie

Title	Published in	Access level	OA Policy	Year	Views	Downloads

Board games on emotional competences for school-age children	Games for health journal			2020	367	334

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Lobel, Adam