Space For Children: improving mastery and reducing negative emotions about COVID-19 in youth via mobile interactive storytelling.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a complex event for children and adolescents, significantly impacting their daily activities. In this scenario, our study aims at verifying if "Space for Children," an ad-hoc developed game based on interactive storytelling about the pandemic, can increase mastery and reduces negative emotions about COVID-19.

Methods: The app Space for Children has been sponsored and spread online by email and social media platforms for a limited time period (from May 2021 to January 2022). Before and after the interactive storytelling, participants answered two questionnaires containing a couple of critical questions regarding their emotional state and their perceived mastery about COVID-19.

Results: Two hundred thirty-six participants (M=116; F=120) between 7 and 12 years old completed the Space for Children interactive experience. Our results show a significant effect of the game experience on emotional state and perceived mastery regarding COVID-19. Indeed, before the interactive storytelling unpleasant emotional states prevail (reported by 77% of participants) while after the game a clear prevalence of pleasant emotions emerges (reported by 68% of participants). Regarding perceived mastery, results show that self-reported very expert participants passed from 49% to 88%. All the results hold irrespective of age group and sex.

Conclusions: This study presents preliminary findings that highlight the potential benefits of utilizing new technologies based on Interactive Storytelling for Children to effectively convey age-appropriate information about complex real-life events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, while also mitigating associated negative emotional responses.