{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,6]],"date-time":"2026-02-06T05:07:33Z","timestamp":1770354453791,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,4]],"date-time":"2022-08-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1659571200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Gulbenkian Academies for Knowledge"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The use of serious games may be an appealing and complementary way to motivate curriculum-based social and emotional learning (SEL); still, investigation into this potential usefulness is scarce. This study aims to address the usefulness of serious games within the program \u2018Me and Us of Emotions\u2019. Specifically, we analyzed the differences in children\u2019s satisfaction in sessions that did or did not use serious games as a complement to the intervention, explored the contribution of using serious games to the global satisfaction with the program, and explored children\u2019s qualitative feedback regarding the sessions. The participants were 232 children (122 boys and 110 girls) aged between 8 and 12 years old (M = 9.09, SD = 0.80). The measures were based on the subjective appraisals of the sessions made by the participating children, including quantitative and qualitative assessments of the degree of satisfaction of the participants. The results showed that there were similar levels of satisfaction with the sessions that did or did not use serious games as a complement to the program. However, only satisfaction with the sessions that used serious games (and not satisfaction with the sessions that did not use them) contributed significantly to explaining both the enjoyment of the activities and the interest in the subjects. Satisfaction with serious games was significantly and positively associated with fun, easiness, ability to understand the session, and ability to cope with emotions. Qualitative analysis showed three main themes, namely: positive aspects, negative aspects, and opportunities for improvement of the program. Overall, these results indicate that children\u2019s satisfaction with the \u2018Me and Us of Emotions\u2019 program is related to serious games, suggesting the relevance of using this complementary tool more often when intervening with younger generations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph19159613","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,4]],"date-time":"2022-08-04T21:52:48Z","timestamp":1659649968000},"page":"9613","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Children\u2019s Perspectives on Using Serious Games as a Complement to Promoting Their Social\u2013Emotional Skills"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1703-4712","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana","family":"Xavier","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Desenvolvimento Humano Portucalense, Universidade Portucalense Infante D. Henrique, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioural Intervention (CINEICC), University of Coimbra, 3000-115 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4372-3930","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paula","family":"Vagos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Desenvolvimento Humano Portucalense, Universidade Portucalense Infante D. Henrique, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioural Intervention (CINEICC), University of Coimbra, 3000-115 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Lara","family":"Palmeira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioural Intervention (CINEICC), University of Coimbra, 3000-115 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"Servi\u00e7o de Psicologia Cl\u00ednica (SPC), Centro Hospitalar e Universit\u00e1rio de Coimbra (CHUC), 3004-561 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4903-3554","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paulo","family":"Menezes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Systems and Robotics (ISR), University of Coimbra, 3030-194 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Bruno","family":"Patr\u00e3o","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Systems and Robotics (ISR), University of Coimbra, 3030-194 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0640-9117","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"S\u00f3nia","family":"Pereira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Desenvolvimento Humano Portucalense, Universidade Portucalense Infante D. Henrique, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Vanessa","family":"Rocha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Desenvolvimento Humano Portucalense, Universidade Portucalense Infante D. Henrique, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7037-2710","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sofia","family":"Mendes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o em Psicologia para o Desenvolvimento, Instituto de Psicologia e Ci\u00eancias da Educa\u00e7\u00e3o, Universidade Lus\u00edada, 4100-346 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Marta","family":"Tavares","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Agrupamento de Escolas de Valadares, 4405-594 Valadares, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"405","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x","article-title":"The impact of enhancing students\u2019 social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions","volume":"82","author":"Durlak","year":"2011","journal-title":"Child Dev."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Durlak, J.A., Domitrovich, C.E., Weissberg, R.P., and Gulotta, T.P. 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