Tom Hollensteinonline

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Short bio

Associate Professor in Developmental Psychology at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

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About me

I am specializing in adolescent emotional development, emotion regulation, dynamic systems, state space grids, observational methods, and psychophysiology. PI on studies of MindLight in Canada..  Currently I am working on rectifying process and strategy accounts of emotion regulation, concordance across appraisal, expressive, and physiological arousal during emotion, testing the social baseline hypothesis of adolescence, the impact of mindsets on socioemotional functioning, and nested time scales of real-time emotions within day-to-day functioning across developmental time. My interest in gaming is as a research tool to tap into theorized mechanisms of emotion regulation, and of course to improve children's lives.

Projects I’ve worked on

  • Category
    Anxiety | Depression
    Date
    02/12/2024
    Study/Course
    Location

    MindLight - Childhood Anxiety Prevention

    About the project

    Many children have difficulties with fearful situations and are anxious. Interventions can help to teach children to cope effectively with anxiety-inducing situations. In our project, we rigorously tested whether an intervention in the form of a video game (MindLight) is effective in significantly reducing anxiety symptoms in children 8-12 years old. We did this by comparing MindLight to 1) a commercial game and 2) the gold-standard, cognitive-behavioural therapy for anxiety (Coping Cat). Furthermore, we evaluated the motivational characteristics of MindLight and for whom (e.g., age and gender differences) it is effective.

    view this project

  • Category
    Gaming
    Date
    02/12/2024
    Study/Course
    Location

    Nonspecific Factors in Video Games for Mental Health

    About the project

    More 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.

    view this project

no future events are set.

My publications

  • Insights about Screen-use Conflict from Discussions between Mothers and Pre-adolescents: A Thematic Analysis

    Francis, K., Scholten, H., Granic, I., Lougheed, J., & Hollenstein, T. (2021). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(9), 4686. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094686

    Author: Kathleen Francis

    Upload date: 04-28-2022

  • Reductions of Anxiety Symptoms, State Anxiety, and Anxious Arousal in Youth Playing the Videogame MindLight Compared to Online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

    Tsui, T. Y., DeFrance, K., Khalid-Khan, S., Granic, I., & Hollenstein, T. (2021). Games for Health Journal, 10(5), 330-338. https://doi.org/10.1089/g4h.2020.0083

    Author: Tiffany Y.L. Tsui

    Upload date: 09-28-2021

  • 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

  • Preregistration: The Effect of Expectations on Experienced Fun, Mood, State-Anxiety and In-Game Play Behaviours while playing MindLight

    Wols, A., Hollenstein, T., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2019). https://osf.io/6gmwv

    Author: Aniek Wols

    Upload date: 07-05-2019

  • Tom Hollenstein on Google Scholar

    Dynamic Systems, Adolescence, Development, Emotion, Emotion Regulation

    Author: Tom Hollenstein

    Upload date: 12-02-2024

  • Mental Health Outcomes of an Applied Game for Children with Elevated Anxiety Symptoms: A Randomized Controlled Non-inferiority Trial

    Schoneveld, E.A., Wols, A., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., Otten, R., & Granic I. (2020). Journal of Child and Family Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-020-01728-y

    Author: Elke Schoneveld

    Upload date: 06-24-2020

  • What Keeps Them Motivated? Children’s Views on an Applied Game for Anxiety

    Schoneveld, E. A., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2019). Entertainment Computing, 29, 69-74.

    Author: Elke Schoneveld

    Upload date: 03-01-2019

  • Childhood Anxiety Prevention: An Evaluation of the Applied Game MindLight [Doctoral Dissertation]

    Schoneveld, E. A. (2019). Doctoral dissertation

    Author: Elke Schoneveld

    Upload date: 02-26-2019

  • Preventing Childhood Anxiety Disorders: Is an Applied Game as Effective as a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Based Program?

    Schoneveld, E. A., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2017). Prevention Science, 1-13.

    Author: Elke Schoneveld

    Upload date: 09-27-2017

  • A Neurofeedback Video Game (MindLight) to Prevent Anxiety in Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial

    Schoneveld, E. A., Malmberg, M., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., Verheijen, G. P., Engels, R. C., & Granic, I. (2016). Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 321-333.

    Author: Elke Schoneveld

    Upload date: 10-01-2016

  • Effectiveness of applied and casual games for young people's mental health: A systematic review of randomised controlled studies

    Wols, A., Pingel, M., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2024). Effectiveness of applied and casual games for young people's mental health: A systematic review of randomised controlled studies. Clinical Psychology Review, 102396.

    Author: Aniek Wols

    Upload date: 01-30-2024

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

Worked together with

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Isabela Granic
Director of GEMH Lab

Professor and Chair of the Developmental Psychopathology department in the Behavioural Science Institute; writer; voracious podcast consumer; mother of two upstanding little gamers

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Professor at McMaster's University & Co-founder of PlayNice Interactive

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Anna Lichtwarck-Aschoff
Collaborator

I am not so interested in *whether* certain interventions work but *how* they work. That is, I am mainly focusing on underlying processes and mechanisms of change across diagnostic categories and different treatment modalities. Mother of two wild boys!

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Professor of Orthopedagogics at University of Groningen

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Rutger Engels

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CEO at Trimbos Institute / Professor Developmental Psychopathology Utrecht University

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