Imaginative play for inclusion: evaluating the Young Dragons tabletop role-playing intervention in UK schools
File(s)
Article in press
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
School exclusion in England disproportionately affects pupils with social, emotional, and mental health needs. Tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) may strengthen social emotional learning but are rarely evaluated in UK state schools. Young Dragons, a Dungeons & Dragons based programme, was developed to support emotional regulation, teamwork, and engagement among pupils at risk of exclusion in two London boroughs.
Methods
A convergent mixed methods realist evaluation was delivered across ten schools. Pupils aged 9–16 attended weekly one-hour sessions for 6–8 weeks in small, consistent groups. Pre/post pupil surveys captured wellbeing, self-concept, peer relations, school belonging, and loneliness; matched pair change (n = 22) used Wilcoxon signed rank tests. Semi-structured interviews with school staff and facilitators and observation of multiagency meetings explored implementation and perceived impact. Findings were integrated using joint displays and context–mechanism–outcome (CMO) mapping.
Results
No statistically significant within person change was detected across matched items (all p > 0.10). Distributions showed heterogeneous trajectories: many pupils reported better mood, anger regulation, and confidence, while a minority shifted toward greater disengagement or loneliness. Exploratory analysis of routine school records (n = 30) showed a significant reduction in mean suspensions from 0.7 pre-intervention to 0.0 post-intervention (p = 0.022) and a modest, non-significant increase in mean attendance from 90.6% to 92.7% (p = 0.069). Qualitative accounts described strong engagement, psychological safety, and visible gains in self-management, turn taking, and teamwork, with positive spillover into classroom behaviour when groups were stable and facilitation was consistent. Delivery challenges included timetable pressures, space constraints, and stigma around targeted provision. Integration identified skilled facilitation, small-group safety, and structured reflection as key mechanisms enabling co-regulation, perspective taking, and belonging.
Conclusion
Young Dragons was feasible and acceptable in high need school settings. Benefits were mechanism-consistent for many participants but contingent on context and facilitator quality. These pilot data justify a larger, controlled evaluation to test causal pathways and longer-term outcomes for inclusion and emotional wellbeing.
School exclusion in England disproportionately affects pupils with social, emotional, and mental health needs. Tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) may strengthen social emotional learning but are rarely evaluated in UK state schools. Young Dragons, a Dungeons & Dragons based programme, was developed to support emotional regulation, teamwork, and engagement among pupils at risk of exclusion in two London boroughs.
Methods
A convergent mixed methods realist evaluation was delivered across ten schools. Pupils aged 9–16 attended weekly one-hour sessions for 6–8 weeks in small, consistent groups. Pre/post pupil surveys captured wellbeing, self-concept, peer relations, school belonging, and loneliness; matched pair change (n = 22) used Wilcoxon signed rank tests. Semi-structured interviews with school staff and facilitators and observation of multiagency meetings explored implementation and perceived impact. Findings were integrated using joint displays and context–mechanism–outcome (CMO) mapping.
Results
No statistically significant within person change was detected across matched items (all p > 0.10). Distributions showed heterogeneous trajectories: many pupils reported better mood, anger regulation, and confidence, while a minority shifted toward greater disengagement or loneliness. Exploratory analysis of routine school records (n = 30) showed a significant reduction in mean suspensions from 0.7 pre-intervention to 0.0 post-intervention (p = 0.022) and a modest, non-significant increase in mean attendance from 90.6% to 92.7% (p = 0.069). Qualitative accounts described strong engagement, psychological safety, and visible gains in self-management, turn taking, and teamwork, with positive spillover into classroom behaviour when groups were stable and facilitation was consistent. Delivery challenges included timetable pressures, space constraints, and stigma around targeted provision. Integration identified skilled facilitation, small-group safety, and structured reflection as key mechanisms enabling co-regulation, perspective taking, and belonging.
Conclusion
Young Dragons was feasible and acceptable in high need school settings. Benefits were mechanism-consistent for many participants but contingent on context and facilitator quality. These pilot data justify a larger, controlled evaluation to test causal pathways and longer-term outcomes for inclusion and emotional wellbeing.
Date Issued
2026-06-20
Date Acceptance
2026-06-15
Citation
BMC Public Health, 2026
ISSN
1471-2458
Publisher
BMC
Journal / Book Title
BMC Public Health
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2026. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1186/s12889-026-28225-z
Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2026-06-20