Background

Individuals with intellectual disabilities may experience difficulties with emotion identification and emotional regulation. Emotional regulation represents a significant milestone associated with cognitive development and impacts the achievement of independent living. Various interventions exist to support emotional regulation in different populations, but they present challenges in maintaining participant attention and require individualized adaptations. An alternative to supporting these interventions is the use of interactive technology, such as video games and gamification-based tools. The literature suggests various types of interactive technology that have proven effective in supporting the development of different skills in people with intellectual disabilities. However, technology specifically designed to support emotional regulation has yet to be developed. 

This project is part of a doctoral dissertation for a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the CICESE Research Center. It aims to design, develop, and evaluate a gamification tool to support the emotional regulation of people with intellectual disabilities. Odisea Emocional is a gamification-based tool to support therapeutic interventions for emotional regulation in individuals with intellectual disabilities. The tool was designed based on existing literature on gamification and serious games for diverse populations, as well as through a contextual study conducted with special education teachers, therapists, psychologists, and people with intellectual disabilities. After obtaining the design characteristics for the tool, we implemented a high-fidelity prototype. Then, we conducted a formative evaluation of Odisea Emocional with five individuals with intellectual disabilities, which provided us with feedback for adjustments to the tool.

We redesigned the Odisea Emocional UI (front end), and we are now looking for someone to join our project to develop the back-end of the new design of the tool.  If you are interested in being part of this project, please visit our join us page.