Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that causes delusions and impairs functioning and cognitive performance. People with schizophrenia do not always get enough help with their symptoms with the treatments available. New evidence-based methods are needed. New technology can be utilized in the treatment of schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to explore the internet use and habits and attitudes of video gaming in people with schizophrenia.

The research design was a cross-sectional survey. The material was collected with a questionnaire that included an Internet Use Pattern and Activities scale surveying the use of information technology and a GAMES-scale examining game attitudes. The target group of the study were people with schizophrenia, aged 18-65, in outpatient care. Convenience sampling method was used. The 68 respondents met the inclusion criteria. Descriptive data were analysed using frequencies, percentages, and appropriate averages. Comparative data were analysed using the Chi-square test and the Spearman correlation coefficient.

95.9% (n = 63) of the participants used the Internet. The most common uses were searching for things of interest, banking, email, and watching videos. 51,6% of the participants (n = 33) said that they could easily find information on the Internet. 41.2% (n = 24) searched for health information on the Internet. 53.7% (n = 36) had played video games in the last year. The most popular gaming platforms were computer (69.4%, n = 25), smartphone (33.3%, n = 12) and PlayStation game console (27.8%, n = 10). The most popular game types were shooting and fighting games as well as action adventure games. The participants currently played mostly puzzle and brain games. Men (p = .000) and younger participants (p = .006) played the most video games. The most motivated gaming categories were autonomy, escapism, and story of the game. The least motivating categories were violence reward and violence catharsis. Younger participants scored higher in the categories of social interaction (p = .006) and violence reward (p = .038). Category game´s story was related to intense (p=.043) and frequent (p=.048), gaming that took a lot of free time (p=.017).

People with schizophrenia used information technology extensively and played video games. The results are comparable to the Finnish general use of information technology and video gaming. People with schizophrenia should be supported in finding health-related information on the Internet. Video gaming is common, especially in the younger age groups. The results support the use of video gaming in the rehabilitation of people with schizophrenia. However, more research is needed on this topic.