Co-Creation Workshops With MaKey MaKey to Promote Participation Among People With Mental Health Conditions

Official title

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Pilot Program of Co-Creation Workshops With MaKey MaKey to Promote Participation Among People With Mental Health Conditions

Overview

This pilot study aims to design, implement, and conduct an initial evaluation of a group-based co-creation workshop program using MaKey MaKey and Scratch for adults attending a mental health day hospital. The program will use low-cost creative technologies as tools to promote social participation, motivation, and empowerment through cooperative experiences adapted to participants' interests, abilities, and needs. The intervention will consist of six weekly sessions lasting approximately 90 minutes each, with the possibility of two additional sessions to complete and present the projects developed. Participants will collaborate in the design of musical activities, cooperative games, interactive narratives, or other creative projects. Assessments will be conducted before and after the intervention, and information will be collected on attendance, participation, usability, incidents, support needs, and adaptations. The feasibility and acceptability of the program, as well as participants' experiences, will also be explored to inform its improvement and potential future implementation in other mental health services.

Detailed description

People with mental health conditions may experience difficulties that extend beyond clinical symptoms and affect daily functioning, the organization of routines, the performance of meaningful roles, and participation in social and community activities. From a recovery-oriented perspective, mental health care is not limited to symptom reduction but seeks to support people in building meaningful lives by promoting autonomy, participation, and decision-making capacity.

Mental health day hospitals provide a structured therapeutic setting situated between inpatient hospitalization and outpatient care. These services deliver individual and group interventions aimed at supporting the acquisition and maintenance of skills, the reorganization of routines, social interaction, and the gradual recovery of personal and community roles. However, one of the main challenges faced by psychosocial rehabilitation programs is providing activities that are meaningful, motivating, flexible, and sufficiently adaptable to service users' interests, abilities, and needs.

Co-creation approaches may help address this challenge by placing participants in an active role throughout the design, development, and adaptation of activities. Rather than acting solely as recipients of a predefined intervention, participants can propose ideas, make decisions, create, experiment, solve problems, and contribute to the group's work. This approach may promote motivation, cooperation, shared decision-making, a sense of belonging, and recognition of one's own abilities.

In this context, low-cost creative technologies can be used as tools to facilitate participation. Scratch is a block-based visual programming environment that enables users to create interactive digital projects without requiring advanced programming skills. MaKey MaKey is an interactive circuit board that transforms everyday objects and conductive materials into tangible interfaces connected to a computer. Combining both tools enables the development of experiences that integrate digital creation with object manipulation, bodily interaction, and cooperative work.

Interventions

• Behavioral MaKey MaKey and Scratch Co-Creation Workshop Program
  The intervention is a group-based co-creation program delivered in a mental health day hospital. It will comprise six weekly sessions of approximately 90 minutes each, with up to two optional additional sessions. During the program, participants will become familiar with MaKey MaKey and Scratch, identify individual and shared interests, propose ideas, design tangible interfaces, perform basic block-based programming, test the projects, solve problems, and progressively refine the activities cre

Primary outcome measures

• Change in social participation from baseline to post-intervention [Time frame: Pre-Post: baseline, before the first workshop session, and immediately after the participant's final workshop session, following 6 to 8 sessions.]
• Change in motivation toward participation in the workshops from baseline to post-intervention [Time frame: Pre-Post: baseline, before the first workshop session, and immediately after the participant's final workshop session, following 6 to 8 sessions.]
• Change in perceived empowerment from baseline to post-intervention [Time frame: Pre-Post: baseline, before the first workshop session, and immediately after the participant's final workshop session, following 6 to 8 sessions.]

Secondary outcome measures (8)

• Change in occupational balance from baseline to post-intervention [Time frame: Pre-Post: baseline, before the first workshop session, and immediately after the participant's final workshop session, following 6 to 8 sessions.]
• Perceived usability of MaKey MaKey and Scratch after the intervention [Time frame: Post-intervention: immediately after completion of the participant's final workshop session, following 6 to 8 sessions.]
• Percentage of scheduled workshop sessions attended by each participant [Time frame: At each workshop session, up to 8 weeks.]
• Percentage of participants who discontinue the workshop program [Time frame: At the end of the intervention period, up to 8 weeks.]
• Frequency of observed participation indicators during the workshop sessions [Time frame: At each workshop session, up to 8 weeks.]
• Number and type of workshop-related incidents during the intervention [Time frame: At each workshop session, up to 8 weeks.]
• Number and type of adaptations implemented during the workshop sessions [Time frame: At each workshop session, up to 8 weeks.]
• Participants' experience of the co-creation workshop program [Time frame: Immediately post-intervention, up to 8 weeks.]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Receive care at the Mental Health Day Hospital at Ferrol Naval Hospital.
• Be at least 18 years of age or older.
• Attend the Mental Health Day Hospital and participate in its activities.

Exclusion criteria

• Have significant health complications that interfere with active participation in the study.
• Have substantial comprehension or communication difficulties that prevent participation in the workshops or understanding of the study information.

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: No

Study design

Allocation

N/A

Model

Single group

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Supportive care

Study locations

Center list to be confirmed — check the primary protocol.

Publications

• Guarda GF, Fausto IRS, García-García JA, Braz RMM, Leta FR, Pinto SCCS. The Makey Makey inclusive tangible interface and its educational perspectives. In: Anais do XXXIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Informática na Educação. Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação; 2022. p. 741-751. doi:10.5753/sbie.2022.225641.
• World Health Organization. World mental health report: transforming mental health for all. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022.
• Brooke J. SUS: a quick and dirty usability scale. In: Jordan PW, Thomas B, McClelland IL, Weerdmeester B, editors. Usability evaluation in industry. London: Taylor & Francis; 1996. p. 189-194.
• Beginner's Mind Collective, Shaw D. Makey Makey: improvising tangible and nature-based user interfaces. In: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction; 2012 Feb 19-22; Kingston, Ontario, Canada. New York: Association for Computing Machinery; 2012. p. 367-370. doi:10.1145/2148131.2148219.
• Resnick M, Maloney J, Monroy-Hernández A, Rusk N, Eastmond E, Brennan K, et al. Scratch: programming for all. Commun ACM. 2009 Nov;52(11):60-67. doi:10.1145/1592761.1592779.
• Hawke LD, Sheikhan NY, Bastidas-Bilbao H, Rodak T. Experience-based co-design of mental health services and interventions: a scoping review. SSM Ment Health. 2024 Jun;5:100309. doi:10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100309.
• McAuley E, Duncan T, Tammen VV. Psychometric properties of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory in a competitive sport setting: a confirmatory factor analysis. Res Q Exerc Sport. 1989 Mar;60(1):48-58. doi: 10.1080/02701367.1989.10607413. PMID 2489825
• Alonso J, Olivares J, Ciudad A, Manresa J, Casado A, Gilaberte I. [Development and validation of the Social Functioning Scale, short version, in schizophrenia for its use in the clinical practice]. Actas Esp Psiquiatr. 2008 Mar-Apr;36(2):102-10. Spanish. PMID 18365790

Identifiers

NCT: NCT07704619 · 2026/270

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗