Acceptability of a custom-designed game, CityQuest, aimed at improving balance confidence and spatial cognition in fall-prone and healthy older adults

Niamh A. Merriman, Eugenie Roudaia, Matteo Romagnoli, Ivan Orvieto and Fiona N. Newell

Behaviour and Information Technology, 2018, vol. 37, issue 6, 538-557

Abstract: Virtual reality or video games show great potential as low-cost and effective interventions for improving balance and cognitive function in older adults. This research describes the design and acceptability of a serious game (CityQuest) aimed at improving balance confidence, spatial navigation, and perceptual function in older adults with the use of a virtual environment and a balance board. Community-dwelling healthy (N = 28) and fall-prone (N = 28) older adults were pseudo-randomly assigned to train with CityQuest or one of two control games developed to evaluate the specific effects of the CityQuest game. Following completion of 10 training sessions, participants completed questionnaires measuring their acceptability of the game as a falls-related intervention, game experience, and subjective cognitive or balance confidence changes associated with the game. The results revealed high acceptance scores of the game and positive game experiences for all three game conditions. Older adults prone to falls reported a greater reduction in fear of falling and greater improvement in vigilance following training, compared to healthy older adults. These findings suggest that a serious game based on VR technology that trains both motor and cognitive processes is perceived to be beneficial and acceptable to healthy and fall-prone older adults.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/0144929X.2018.1462402 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:taf:tbitxx:v:37:y:2018:i:6:p:538-557

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/tbit20

DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2018.1462402

Access Statistics for this article

Behaviour and Information Technology is currently edited by Dr Panos P Markopoulos

More articles in Behaviour and Information Technology from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().