Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Feb 25, 2025
Date Accepted: Apr 28, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Exploring User Preferences in Haptic-Driven Serious Card Games for Older Adults Cognitive Rehabilitation
ABSTRACT
Background:
Cognitive rehabilitation (CR) is an essential intervention for older adults with cognitive impairment, aiming to restore or compensate for cognitive decline. Traditional methods, such as paper-and-pencil exercises, often lack ecological validity and engagement. Serious games have emerged as a promising alternative, especially those incorporating haptic feedback technology. Haptic feedback enhances user interaction by simulating the sense of touch, potentially improving cognitive performance while reducing reliance on visual information. However, there is limited research on the preferences for haptic feedback in serious card games designed specifically for cognitive rehabilitation in older adults.
Objective:
The study aims to investigate older adults' preferences for haptic feedback in mobile serious card games and to assess its potential for enhancing cognitive function.
Methods:
The present study recruited a total of 250 participants from Dangtu County, Anhui Province, China, with an average age of 70 years. A descriptive survey was conducted among older adults, and structured questionnaires were distributed and data collected via the Wenjuanxing mobile application. Reliability and validity analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The questionnaire investigated older adults' basic understanding of card games and serious games, the integration of card games with mobile devices, the potential impact of combining card games with haptic feedback technology, as well as suggestions and opinions.
Results:
The results showed that 63.2% of the older adults liked the mild haptic feedback mode, and 78.4% of the participants believed that combining haptic feedback technology with mobile card games would help improve cognitive abilities. The study found that 73.6% of the older adults believed that this technology could reduce their reliance on visual information. This confirms that the combination of serious card games and haptic feedback can alleviate sensory impairments in the older adults. Qualitative analysis revealed the potential of haptic feedback to reduce visual fatigue and provide an engaging cognitive training experience.
Conclusions:
Older adults have shown great interest in incorporating haptic feedback into mobile serious card games, believing that this could enhance their cognitive abilities while reducing their reliance on visual information. However, limitations include limited sample size. Longitudinal studies are recommended to evaluate the long-term effects of mobile serious card games with haptic feedback on cognitive abilities. Such investigations could provide valuable insights for game developers, rehabilitation institutions, and the development of cognitive training tools for older adults.
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