Legal, mental health and psychosocial outcomes of the RePresent Games: a quasi-experimental study

This study evaluated a pair of video games called the RePresent games that taught users how to represent themselves in civil court. A quasi-experimental study was conducted that compared 69 RePresent game users and 78 non-game users with civil legal issues across four U.S. states on legal, mental health and psychosocial outcomes over 3 months. The results revealed that RePresent game users reported greater legal knowledge, better mental health and higher quality of life than non-game users across time, and a greater rate of improvement in legal knowledge than non-game users over time. These findings suggest that gamifying education about legal procedures for the general public holds great potential in helping individuals obtain self-help legal assistance although some formal mental health treatment may be needed for many seeking legal aid.

Automated summary

The study found that using the RePresent games led to significant improvements in legal knowledge, mental health, and quality of life for users. Gamifying legal education has the potential to help individuals obtain self-help legal assistance.