Digital games are an important class of eHealth interventions in diabetes, made possible by the Internet and a good range of affordable mobile devices (eg, mobile phones and tablets) available to consumers these days. Gamifying disease management can help children, adolescents, and adults with diabetes to better cope with their lifelong condition. Gamification and social in-game components are used to motivate players/patients and positively change their behavior and lifestyle. In this paper, we start by presenting the main challenges facing people with diabetes—children/adolescents and adults—from a clinical perspective, followed by three short illustrative examples of mobile and desktop game apps and platforms designed by Ayogo Health, Inc. (Vancouver, BC, Canada) for type 1 diabetes (one example) and type 2 diabetes (two examples). The games target different age groups with different needs—children with type 1 diabetes versus adults with type 2 diabetes. The paper is not meant to be an exhaustive review of all digital game offerings available for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, but rather to serve as a taster of a few of the game genres on offer today for both types of diabetes, with a brief discussion of (1) some of the underpinning psychological mechanisms of gamified digital interventions and platforms as self-management adherence tools, and more, in diabetes, and (2) some of the hypothesized potential benefits that might be gained from their routine use by people with diabetes. More research evidence from full-scale evaluation studies is needed and expected in the near future that will quantify, qualify, and establish the evidence base concerning this gamification potential, such as what works in each age group/patient type, what does not, and under which settings and criteria.

The prevalence of psychoactive drug use among students of Lisbon University was higher than expected, considering age group and the usual health status of this population. The administration of a questionnaire was a very useful tool to characterise the pattern of use and the consumer's knowledge about the drugs consumed.

Meta-analysis is now the accepted procedure for summarizing research literatures in areas of applied psychology. Because of the bias for publishing statistically significant findings, while usually rejecting nonsignificant results, our research literatures yield misleading answers to important quantitative questions (e.g., How much better is the average psychotherapy patient relative to a comparable group of untreated controls? How much more aggressive are children who watch a great deal of violent TV than children who watch little or no violence on TV?). While all such research literatures provide overly optimistic meta-analytic estimates, exactly how practically important are these overestimates? Three studies testing the literature on implementation intentions finds only slightly elevated effectiveness estimates. Conversely, in three studies another growing research literature (the efficacy of remote intercessory prayer) is found to be misleading and is in all likelihood not a real effect (i.e., our three studies suggest the literature likely consists of Type I errors). Rules of thumb to predict which research literatures are likely invalid are offered. Finally, revised publication and data analysis procedures to generate unbiased research literatures in the future are examined.

This study aimed to characterize a group of women diagnosed with fibromyalgia, evaluating the relationship between personality and psychopathology, health status (disability, physical health, mental health, and pain), and potentially traumatic life events (PTLE) before the onset of the syndrome. The disability caused by fibromyalgia, physical and mental health status, pain, PTLE in childhood and in the course of life, and personality were assessed in a sample of 50 women with fibromyalgia, age 25-70 years (M = 46.96; SD = 10.96). A multiple correspondence analysis with all the variables identified two types of profiles and a K-Means cluster analysis confirmed two groups of patients: cluster 1 (n = 36), with better health and less psychopathological problems, named "Better adjustment" and cluster 2 (n = 14), with less health and more personality problems, named "Disorder and disability." Pertaining to personality only, a K-Means cluster analysis replicated the three classic personality profiles (normal, neurotic, and psychopathological) identified in chronic pain patients; and the normal profile was the more prevalent (n = 22). The results enhance the importance of recognizing the heterogeneity of fibromyalgia population and the great closeness between personality and physical health, with the PTLE having a less important role than expected.

This study aimed to evaluate the relation of disability and physical and mental health status with potentially traumatic life events (PTLE) before the onset of fibromyalgia in women diagnosed with this syndrome. We also investigated causal attribution of fibromyalgia to a triggering event, physical or psychological in nature, and its relation with the health measures and the adverse life events. The impact of fibromyalgia, physical and mental health status, pain, PTLE in childhood and not in childhood, and causal attribution were assessed in a sample of 50 women with fibromyalgia, aged 25-70 (M = 46.96; SD = 10.96). There were no statistically significant relations between the health measures (disability, physical and mental health, and pain) and the PTLE. The predominant attribution was to a physical event. There were no significant differences neither in the health measures across causal attribution status (Pillai's Trace = 0.193; F(8,90) = 1.200; p = .308; η2 par = .096) nor in the PTLE not in childhood (F(2,47) = 1.063; p = .354; η2 par = .043). There were significant differences across causal attribution status in the PTLE in childhood (F(2,47) = 3.590; p = .035; η2 par = .133), specifically between the group that made a psychological attribution and the group that made no attribution (C.I. 95%) 0.1805; 14.0468; (p = .043), with the former having a higher score of PTLE in childhood. The results raise questions about the importance of psychological aspects in the appraisal of the adverse events and its possible relation to the psychological functioning in women with fibromyalgia.