Implementing Tabletop Games to Reduce Boredom, Enhance Social Interaction and Cognitive Functioning Among Patients in a Psychiatric Ward: A Quasi-Experimental Study at Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kenya

Abstract

Outside the scheduled therapy sessions, meal times and medication times, patients in a psychiatric ward often find themselves idle and bored.  Consequently, boredom and idleness may negatively affect their treatment engagement, mood, and recovery. This study implemented an intervention of tabletop games in the psychiatric wards of Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital, with an aim of reducing boredom, enhancing social interaction and cognitive functioning among patients. The target population was inpatients admitted at the psychiatric wards. A one-group quasi-experimental design was employed. Boredom was assessed before and after the tabletop-game intervention, while cognitive functioning and social interaction were assessed through observational checklists as the participants played the games. Satisfaction with the tabletop games was also assessed among participants. The study was conducted in one male ward and one female ward. The sample consisted of 54 participants. The intervention consisted of playing tabletop games for one-hour twice a week for a duration of six weeks. The results show that tabletop games were effective in reducing boredom (t(21) =-10.82, p <.001, d =1.50), enhancing cognitive function, (M= 32.92) and social interaction (M=32.63). Participants also expressed high levels of satisfaction (M= 55.16). The study concludes that tabletop games are a feasible and acceptable recreational intervention for psychiatric patients in Kenya. This provides evidence for the use of tabletop games as a low-cost therapeutic intervention. The study recommends the inclusion of tabletop games as part of structured therapeutic activities for in-psychiatric care in Kenya.