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Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games

Date Submitted: Jun 18, 2023
Date Accepted: Jun 11, 2024

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

The Rationale Behind the Design Decisions in an Augmented Reality Mobile eHealth Exergame to Increase Physical Activity for Inactive Older People With Heart Failure

Berglund E, Klompstra L, Orädd H, Fallström J, Strömberg A, Jaarsma T, Berglund A

The Rationale Behind the Design Decisions in an Augmented Reality Mobile eHealth Exergame to Increase Physical Activity for Inactive Older People With Heart Failure

JMIR Serious Games 2024;12:e50066

DOI: 10.2196/50066

PMID: 39185820

PMCID: 11382433

Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.

The Rationale of an Augmented Reality Mobile e-Health Exergame to Increase Physical Activity for Patients with Heart Failure

  • Erik Berglund; 
  • Leonie Klompstra; 
  • Helena Orädd; 
  • Johan Fallström; 
  • Anna Strömberg; 
  • Tiny Jaarsma; 
  • Aseel Berglund

ABSTRACT

Background:

Physical activity is important for everyone to maintain and improve health, especially for people with chronic diseases. Mobile exergaming has the potential to increase physical activity and specifically to reach people with poor activity levels. However, commercial mobile exergames are not specially designed for older people with chronic illness.

Objective:

The objectives of this study is to describe the rationale of a mobile exergame for inactive older people who have been diagnosed with heart failure. The goal of the exergame is to increase physical activity by increasing the time a person spends walking each day by at least 10 minutes.

Methods:

The rationale behind the design of the mobile exergame is based on gamification components, gamification elements, and gamification principles related to the design and implementation of gamification strategies that can be applied in cardiovascular care. The exergame was developed using three gamification components, five gamification principles, and four gamification elements.

Results:

The Heart Farming mobile exergame is about helping a farmer take care of and expand a farm, with these activities taking place while the patient walks in the real world. The exergame is developed using augmented reality so it can be played both indoors and outdoors. The augmented reality technology is used to track the patients’ movement rather than to augment the user interface. The exergame is adapted to individual preferences and physical condition.

Conclusions:

A mobile exergame to support patients’ own individual preferences and conditions regarding where, how, when, and how much to play can be developed by applying AR technology to detect patients’ physical activities both indoors and outdoors. AR is used to reveal patients’ movements in the real world and interpreting them into events in the exergame.


 Citation

Please cite as:

Berglund E, Klompstra L, Orädd H, Fallström J, Strömberg A, Jaarsma T, Berglund A

The Rationale Behind the Design Decisions in an Augmented Reality Mobile eHealth Exergame to Increase Physical Activity for Inactive Older People With Heart Failure

JMIR Serious Games 2024;12:e50066

DOI: 10.2196/50066

PMID: 39185820

PMCID: 11382433

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