SandplayAR: Evaluation of psychometric game for people with generalized anxiety disorder

In the context of the rapid development of the Internet, there has been a paradigm shift in psychotherapy practice. The current study develops an online psychometric game: SandplayAR. The experiment primarily evaluates the differences in the effects of SandplayAR and traditional sandplay on the young with generalized anxiety disorder and examines the operational usability of SandplayAR. A total of 20 participants with mild anxiety and above were screened, who were randomly and equally allocated to experimental and control groups for the experiment. Sandplay Image Healing Experience Questionnaire scores as the primary judgment basis, pre/post skin conductance levels and systolic blood pressure levels are collected as additional indexes. The results revealed that the participants using SandplayAR exhibited better performance in both the unconscious emergence and the conscious perception activation, and the product met usability needs. The skin conductance data further demonstrated that AR could achieve more effective ecological intervention through sensory stimulation. This study provides a reference for innovative design in online psychometric tools, and in future research, SandplayAR has the potential to develop into a complete psychotherapy tool. • A SandplayAR system applying augmented reality was developed. • Using SandplayAR exhibited better in both the unconscious emergence and the activation of conscious perception. • SandplayAR was demonstrated to be able to help participants relieve a certain degree of tension. • Participants exhibited a high willingness to use SandplayAR.