Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Aug 22, 2020
Date Accepted: Dec 24, 2020
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
"Playing Alone is Good, But Playing With Peers is Even Better": Co-Design, Development, and Testing of a Bowling Exergame to Improve Functional Capacity of Elderly People
ABSTRACT
Background:
Elderly people often do not comply with the recommendations of exercise required to reduce functional decline. Social interaction is mentioned by these people as a reason for joining group-based exercises, which does not occur when exercising alone. In this perspective, exergames can be used as a motivational resource. However, most of the exergames available are generic and obtained from commercial sources, usually not specifically designed or adapted for the elderly.
Objective:
Our goal was to develop a new exergame, co-designed alongside elderly participants, to verify whether exergaming with peers outperforms exergaming alone in terms of adherence to exercise and functional capacity.
Methods:
We conducted a co-design process to develop a new exergame adapted to elderly people. For user testing, 23 participants were divided into two groups to play individually (Alone Group) or competing in pairs (With Peers Group). They played the game twice a week, totaling 21 exergaming sessions. We assessed the participants' General Physical Fitness Index before and after. We also applied questionnaires about the gaming experience and exercise adherence with its motivators and barriers.
Results:
We introduce a new bowling exergame for Xbox with a Kinect motion sensor that can be played in a single or multi-player mode. After the exergaming sessions, both groups showed a statistically significant improvement in functional capacity. Participants recognized the benefits and expressed enthusiasm towards the exergame. Considering adherence to physical exercise, both groups had improvements and showed interest in playing together. Still, when analyzing the post-test between groups, the With Peers Group had better outcomes than the Alone Group.
Conclusions:
The developed exergame are effective in improving functional capacity and adherence to physical exercise of elderly people, with even better results for those who played with peers. In addition to leading to more appropriate products, a co-design approach may positively influence the motivation and adherence of participants to consequently elicit better health outcomes.
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