ABSTRACT

With an increasing public interest in the roleplaying game ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ (D&D) comes the claim it holds psychological benefits. While the therapeutic roleplay is empirically well established, the evidence surrounding D&D is unclear. The current study aims to summarize the literature pertaining to this topic and present possible avenues for the implementation of D&D in psychological interventions. A Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) was conducted following the standards by the Center for Evidence-Based Management. Relevant search strings were entered into seven databases (e.g., PsycArticles, PsycInfo, Child Development & Adolescent Studies). Only papers published in the English language till September 2020 were considered and their quality appraised. The thematic analysis of 13 studies yielded four themes: No unified personality type of D&D players, stakeholders’ attitude about D&D, lack of maladaptive coping associated with D&D, and potential psychological benefits of D&D. The results appear promising, but preliminary. Practical implications are contextualized with the wider literature.

摘要

随着公众对角色扮演游戏“龙与地下城”(D&D) 的兴趣日益浓厚，有人声称它具有心理益处。虽然治疗角色扮演已在经验上得到充分确立，但围绕 D&D 的证据尚不清楚。本研究旨在总结与该主题相关的文献，并提出在心理干预中实施 D&D 的可能途径。快速证据评估（REA）是按照循证管理中心的标准进行的。相关搜索字符串被输入七个数据库（例如，PsycArticles、PsycInfo、Child Development & Adolescent Studies）。仅考虑 2020 年 9 月之前以英语发表的论文并对其质量进行评估。对 13 项研究的主题分析得出了四个主题：D&D参与者没有统一的人格类型、利益相关者对D&D的态度、缺乏与D&D相关的适应不良应对以及D&D的潜在心理益处。结果看起来很有希望，但只是初步的。实际意义与更广泛的文献结合起来。