Hoffman, A. Gamification in Stress Management Apps: A Critical App Review.

The purpose of this article, “Gamification in Stress Management Apps: A Critical App Review”, by Alexandra Hoffman, et all, was to discover how effective the gamification of mental health apps are. They found that the majority of mental health apps are not utilizing gamification to its full potential. There’s a chart that details their exact findings on page eight. Many apps did not include the basic gamification qualities: an avatar for example. Zero games had the ability to customize an avatar. Also, there’s a PDF link available on page 12 that shows the majority of apps had zero gamification qualities to them. The second-largest majority had only one or two gamification techniques.. Most apps don’t utilize gamification techniques as well as they could. This was a study done in Germany, although one of the requirements for the app was that they must be available in English. They reviewed sixty-two apps by downloading them and then seeing what they had to offer. Data was analyzed by seeing if the apps had any gamification techniques, easily seen on page eight through a graph. Games were also given a score of 1 to 17, based on how many gamification qualities it was found they had.
Hoffmann, Alexandra. “Gamification in Stress Management Apps: A Critical App Review.” JMIR Publications.

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