| Popis: |
Overview and aims: This project aimed to promote active aging by delivering tasks via a tablet computer to participants aged 65-80 with mild cognitive impairment. The aims were to develop an age-appropriate gamified environment and to assess application adherence through an intervention. Methods: The gamified environment was developed through a series of three iterative user-centered focus groups. Adherence was assessed by the time spent engaging with applications over 47 days supplemented with participant interviews. There were two groups of participants: one of 11 people living in a retirement village (1 male; mean age=75.4, SD=5.14; mean MoCA=26.0, SD=2.28) and the other of 13 people living separately across a city (1 male; mean age=74.9, SD=3.68; mean MoCA=24.4, SD=1.19). Results: There was a significant difference in the mean number of sessions for retirement village participants (mean=29.1, SD=14.8) and those living separately (mean=8.8, SD=7.5), adjusted t(14.3)=4.1, p=0.001 with retirement village participants engaging in three times the number of game sessions compared to the other group possibly because of different between group social arrangements. Interview thematic analysis at follow-up revealed that participants enjoyed the social aspects of the project, liked computer games and engaging in them made them feel better. Discussion and Conclusions: An age-appropriate user-designed gamified environment can help older people with mild cognitive impairment engage in computer-based applications and can impact them positively. However, social and community factors influence adherence in a longer-term intervention. |
