Marlou Poppelaarsonline
Short bio
I am a Postdoctoral researcher passionate about internalizing psychopathology prevention and the use of technology and innovation for this purpose while stimulating intrinsic motivation. I love to read, cook and bake everything delicious. Working on finishing my dissertation and Two Dots (Level 3682 and counting).
Top-3 games
- Two Dots
- Journey
- Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Stars can’t shine without darkness
D H Sidebottem - Fragile Truths
About me
Having recently defended my dissertation entitled Engaging Youth in Depression Prevention: Testing the Effectiveness and Appeal of Applied and Commercial Video Games, I am now looking for my next research adventure. I am a behavioural scientist passionate about internalizing psychopathology intervention, intrinsic motivation, and the use of video games and other technological advancements for this purpose. As a PhD-student and Postdoctoral researcher my projects focused on mechanisms in commercial and applied video games that may promote mental health in adolescents. Having experienced first-hand the limitations of using symptom questionnaires to select youth for prevention programs, I believe that innovative theoretical, methodological and intervention research is needed to lower the disease burden of internalizing mental health disorders and I am excited to contribute to this with my own work.
Projects I’ve worked on
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CategoryDesign | GamingDate09/06/2020Study/CourseLocation
Can I Play Some More? Promoting Adolescent Well-being Through Engaging Video Games
About the projectCommercial video games may offer a cheap and readily available way to help us understand in what way video games can be used to promote adolescent well-being. Excellent targets for this are games that involve social interaction, encourage both positive and negative emotions and are identified by youth themselves as potentially beneficial. By letting youth play several commercial video games in different settings, we can learn how games interact with well-being and motivation in both short and long-term.
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CategoryResilienceDate10/06/2023Study/CourseLocation
Nonspecific Factors in Video Games for Mental Health
About the projectMore and more games are designed to promote mental health. If these games are found to be effective, it is important to investigate which factors are responsible for the improvements in mental health. Most often, this type of research focuses on the specific clinical techniques that were designed into the game. However, from the clinical literature it is known that, for instance, expectations, motivation, and one’s mindset about the malleability of symptoms play a major role in positive intervention outcomes. In my project I aim to investigate these nonspecific factors and examine how we can manipulate these factors in order to optimize video games for mental health.
Events View all events
My publications
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A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Two Cognitive-Behavioral Programs for Adolescent Girls with Subclinical Depression: A School-Based Program (Op Volle Kracht) and a Computerized Program (SPARX)
Poppelaars, M., Tak, Y. R., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., Engels, R. C. M. E., Lobel, A., Merry, S. N., Lucassen, M. F. G., & Granic, I. (2016). Behaviour Research and Therapy, 80, 33-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2016.03.005
Author: Marlou Poppelaars
Upload date: 05-01-2016
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Videospellen: De Positieve Effecten
Granic, I., Lobel, A., Poppelaars, M., & Engels, R. C. M. E. (2015). Kind en Adolescent, 36 (1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12453-014-0066-8
Author: Marlou Poppelaars
Upload date: 01-22-2015
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Autonomous and Controlled Motivation in a Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing School-based and Computerized Depression Prevention Programs
Poppelaars, M., Tak, Y. R., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., Engels, R. C. M. E., Lobel, A., Merry, S. N., Lucassen, M. F. G., & Granic, I. (2014). In Schouten, B., Fedtke, S., Schijven, M., Vosmeer, M. & Gekker, A. (Eds.), Games for Health 2014 (pp. 125-135). Germany: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-07141-7_17
Author: Marlou Poppelaars
Upload date: 10-29-2014
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Mechanisms of Change in a Go/No-Go Training Game for Young Adult Smokers
Scholten, H., Luijten, M., Poppelaars, A., Johnson-Glenberg, M. C., & Granic, I. (2021). Health Psychology, 40(12), 998-1008. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001068
Author: Hanneke Scholten
Upload date: 07-01-2021
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The Role of Motivation to Change and Mindsets in a Game Promoted for Mental Health
Wols, A., Poppelaars, M., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2020). Entertainment Computing, 100371.
Author: Aniek Wols
Upload date: 07-07-2020
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Marlou Poppelaars on Google Scholar
Developmental Psychopathology Depression Anxiety Prevention Applied Video Games
Author: Marlou Poppelaars
Upload date: 06-09-2020
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Explicit Mental Health Messaging Promotes Serious Video Game Selection in Youth with Elevated Mental Health Symptoms
Poppelaars, M., Wols, A., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2018). Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01837
Author: Marlou Poppelaars
Upload date: 09-10-2018
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The Impact of Explicit Mental Health Messages in Video Games on Players’ Motivation and Affect
Poppelaars, M., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., Kleinjan, M., & Granic, I. (2018). The impact of explicit mental health messages in video games on players’ motivation and affect. Computers in Human Behavior, 83, 16-23. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.01.019
Author: Marlou Poppelaars
Upload date: 07-01-2018
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The Effect of Expectations on Experiences and Engagement with an Applied Game for Mental Health
Wols, A., Hollenstein, T., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., & Granic (2021). Games for Health, 10(4), 207-219.
Author: Aniek Wols
Upload date: 08-09-2021
Worked together with
Professor and Chair of the Developmental Psychopathology department in the Behavioural Science Institute; writer; voracious podcast consumer; mother of two upstanding little gamers
Professor at McMaster's University
I am interested in how and why applied games for mental health work, with a specific focus on the influence of one's mindset, motivation and expectations.
PhD-Candidate
Assistant Professor at the Developmental Psychopathology Department, mainly interested in general processes and principles of clinical change; mother of two wild boys.
Assistant Professor
User Research Analyst at Ubisoft Montréal. My favorite games tell emotionally rich stories and challenge me to think differently
User Research Analyst
Assistant prof. and data geek at the GEMH lab, dynamical modelling, personalisation, wants to put the I back into AI, news junkie, cat lover.
Assistant Professor
Rutger Engels
CEO at Trimbos Institute / Professor Developmental Psychopathology Utrecht University
Marloes Kleinjan
Program Head Epidemiology & Research support at Trimbos Institute / Professor Youth Mental Health Promotion Utrecht University