Foglands Role-Playing Game (RPG) Research Study

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Research Study Overview

The purpose of the Foglands RPG research study is to determine if our journaling RPG is a practical and suitable intervention for brain fog. A journaling RPG uses guided questions, short story-like episodes, and creative writing, letting you move through the experience at your own pace.

Expressive writing and creative storytelling engage several cognitive skills including sustained attention, working memory, verbal fluency, and executive control (planning, sequencing, and revising). Journaling RPGs may also support emotion regulation and stress reduction through meaning-making and narrative consistency. However, it is currently unknown if a journaling RPG is helpful for coping with and managing brain fog.

We are currently recruiting 30 cancer survivors to help us determine if our intervention is useful for brain fog.

Participation Eligibility

Participants must meet all of the following eligibility requirements:

  • You are 21 year of age or older.
  • You have a history of cancer but are not currently undergoing active cancer treatment such as chemotherapy, radiation, or stem cell transplant.
  • Other cancer therapies such as hormone therapy, immunotherapy, or certain maintenance therapies are allowed as long as you are in good physical health.
  • You must be able to write, type, or speak without difficulty.
  • You must be fluent in English.
  • You must have access to a computer with internet connection.

Research Study Procedures

You will be asked to complete the following activities remotely:

  • Online Surveys: questions about your memory, thinking, emotional status, demographics, and cancer history.
  • Foglands RPG Intervention: an interactive, expressive, creative writing experience where you guide a character through environmental challenges and story-based social encounters in the fictional world known as the Foglands.
  • Journal Upload: upload your journal entries into a secure, anonymous database. Your entries will be evaluated for simple features such as word count and then permanently deleted. No one will read or review your journal entries.
  • Game Survey: online questionnaire about your game sessions such as how long you played and what difficulty level you used.
  • Repeat Online Surveys: complete the same online surveys about your memory and thinking and emotional state that you completed prior to playing the game.
  • RPG Survey: online questionnaire of your opinions about the Foglands game.