Affective Out-World Experience via Virtual Reality for Older Adults Living with Mild Cognitive Impairments or Mild Dementia

Maria Matsangidou (), Theodoros Solomou, Fotos Frangoudes, Konstantinos Ioannou, Panagiotis Theofanous, Ersi Papayianni and Constantinos S. Pattichis
Additional contact information
Maria Matsangidou: CYENS Center of Excellence, Nicosia 1016, Cyprus
Theodoros Solomou: Department of Computer Science, School of Natural & Applied Sciences, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus
Fotos Frangoudes: CYENS Center of Excellence, Nicosia 1016, Cyprus
Konstantinos Ioannou: Department of Computer Science, School of Natural & Applied Sciences, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus
Panagiotis Theofanous: Department of Computer Science, School of Natural & Applied Sciences, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus
Ersi Papayianni: Archangelos Michael Elderly People Nursing Home/Rehabilitation Centre for Patients with Alzheimer (AMEN), Nicosia 1022, Cyprus
Constantinos S. Pattichis: CYENS Center of Excellence, Nicosia 1016, Cyprus

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: Older adults with cognitive impairments may face barriers to accessing experiences beyond their physical premises. Previous research has suggested that missing out on emotional experiences may affect mental health and impact cognitive abilities. In recent years, there has been growing research interest in designing non-pharmacological interventions to improve the health-related quality of life of older adults. With virtual reality offering endless opportunities for health support, we must consider how virtual reality can be sensitively designed to provide comfortable, enriching out-world experiences to older adults to enhance their emotional regulation. Thirty older adults living with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia participated in the study. Affect and emotional behavior were measured. The usability and the sense of presence were also assessed. Finally, we assessed the virtual reality experiences based on physiological responses and eye-tracking data. The results indicated that virtual reality can positively enhance the mental health of this population by eliciting a positive affective state and enhancing their emotional regulation. Overall, this paper raises awareness of the role of virtual reality in emotion elicitation, regulation, and expression and enhances our understanding of the use of virtual reality by older adults living with mild cognitive impairments or mild dementia.

Keywords: virtual reality; older adults; mild cognitive impairment; dementia; human-centered technologies; user experience; affective computing; emotional experiences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/2919/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/2919/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:2919-:d:1060911

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().