We're excited to share that GEMH Lab researcher Dr. Nastasia Griffioen is leading a major project through her work at the Trimbos Institute - a comprehensive literature review commissioned by the World Health Organization to map the effects of commercial video games on health and wellbeing. This large-scale scoping review will systematically analyze the entire academic landscape, from risks like addictive video game play behaviours and dark patterns in design, to benefits including cognitive enhancement and social connection.

Using a proven topic-centered methodology, Nastasia and her team at the Trimbos Institute (which includes GEMH Lab alumna Dr. Anouk Tuijnman and senior video games researcher Dr. Antonius J. van Rooij) will synthesize evidence from thousands of studies, identify critical research gaps, and formulate actionable research questions to guide future policy and investigation. 

This review will include a thorough exploration of the academic literature, but will also be supplemented by so-called 'grey literature' such as industry reports, unpublished studies, white papers, etc. If you have any such materials to share with Nastasia for her review, please reach out to her at ngriffioen[at]trimbos.nl.

Her GEMH Lab background in games for mental health research has been invaluable preparation for this work, which represents a broader mandate to understand commercial gaming's full spectrum of health impacts. We look forward to following updates from this important research project!