Previously submitted to: JMIR Serious Games (no longer under consideration since Nov 16, 2021)
Date Submitted: Feb 14, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Evaluation of Therapeutic Stepping Exergame (TSE)- a tailored Exergame for Fear of Falling and Balance Confidence for Elderly in India
ABSTRACT
Background:
Fall is a critical problem that leads to various issues in the elderly. The fear of falling (FOF) is a common problem in the elderly population. There is an association between FOF and balance confidence. Exergaming (EXG) is a promising technology for the elderly to address these issues. Existing EXG needs an advanced infrastructure to install a camera or other devices. In a developing country like India, many areas cannot afford such arrangements. Moreover, the use of exergame itself is relatively new among the elderly in India.
Objective:
This study aims to determine the effect of exergame (EXG) technology on FOF and the balance confidence in the Indian elderly. A tailored (Indian context) EXG termed Therapeutic Stepping Exergame (TSE) is used in the study. The paper also shows the relationship between FOF and balance confidence after the use of TSE.
Methods:
The TSE- a session is 30 minutes per day and seven days a week for four weeks. TSE has incorporated four stepping exercises. Twenty-seven Indian elderly (able to stand and walk independently, ten female and seventeen males; age: 66.44 ± 5.84 years) played four different stepping games in a tailored- EXG for four weeks, thirty minutes per day. For data analysis, SPSS version 20 is used.
Results:
Statistical results confirmed TSE directly affects elderly balance confidence and further supported that it reduces the FOF. Results show significant improvement in the balance confidence at t(26)= 11.735, p=.00, less than .05; and a significant decrease in the FOF at t(26)= -18.528, p=.00, less than .05. There is a significant negative correlation between the FOF and balance confidence at r (26)= -.682, p=.00, less than 0.01.
Conclusions:
The paper contributes to the elderly- fall and EXG research by providing insight into the TSE’s effectiveness in terms of balance confidence and fear of falling. The analysis suggests that in the Indian context, EXG can be a promising tool for delivering fall preventive exercises and a novel way to motivate the elderly to so. TSE can play a positive influence on the elderly fall research. For future study, more exercises can be incorporated with more participants.
Citation
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