Immersive Virtual Reality Exergames for Persons Living With Dementia: User-Centered Design Study as a Multistakeholder Team During the COVID-19 Pandemic
BackgroundAdvancements in supporting personalized health care and well-being using virtual reality (VR) have created opportunities to use immersive games to support a healthy lifestyle for persons living with dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Collaboratively desig...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2022-01-01
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| Series: | JMIR Serious Games |
| Online Access: | https://games.jmir.org/2022/1/e29987 |
| _version_ | 1797735437121355776 |
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| author | John Muñoz Samira Mehrabi Yirou Li Aysha Basharat Laura E Middleton Shi Cao Michael Barnett-Cowan Jennifer Boger |
| author_facet | John Muñoz Samira Mehrabi Yirou Li Aysha Basharat Laura E Middleton Shi Cao Michael Barnett-Cowan Jennifer Boger |
| author_sort | John Muñoz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundAdvancements in supporting personalized health care and well-being using virtual reality (VR) have created opportunities to use immersive games to support a healthy lifestyle for persons living with dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Collaboratively designing exercise video games (exergames) as a multistakeholder team is fundamental to creating games that are attractive, effective, and accessible.
ObjectiveThis research extensively explores the use of human-centered design methods that involve persons living with dementia in long-term care facilitates, exercise professionals, content developers, game designers, and researchers in the creation of VR exergames targeting physical activity promotion for persons living with dementia/MCI.
MethodsConceptualization, collaborative design, and playtesting activities were carried out to design VR exergames to engage persons living with dementia in exercises to promote upper limb flexibility, strength, and aerobic endurance. We involved a total of 7 persons living with dementia/MCI, 5 exercise professionals, 5 community-dwelling older adults, a VR company for content creation, and a multidisciplinary research team with game designers, engineers, and kinesiology experts.
ResultsAn immersive VR exergame called Seas the Day was jointly designed and developed and it is freely available to be played in state-of-the-art VR headsets (Oculus Quest 1, 2). A model for the triadic interaction (health care institution, industry partner, academia) is also presented to illustrate how different stakeholders contribute to the design of VR exergames that consider/complement complex needs, preferences, and motivators of an underrepresented group of end users.
ConclusionsThis study provides evidence that a collaborative multistakeholder design results in more tailored and context-aware VR games for persons living with dementia. The insights and lessons learned from this research can be used by others to co-design games, including remote engagement techniques that were used during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:59:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fa0cd65127db463299227d87e3b2231e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2291-9279 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:59:02Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Serious Games |
| spelling | doaj.art-fa0cd65127db463299227d87e3b2231e2023-08-28T20:23:25ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Serious Games2291-92792022-01-01101e2998710.2196/29987Immersive Virtual Reality Exergames for Persons Living With Dementia: User-Centered Design Study as a Multistakeholder Team During the COVID-19 PandemicJohn Muñozhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6161-9443Samira Mehrabihttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7643-8971Yirou Lihttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3472-4982Aysha Basharathttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9239-3929Laura E Middletonhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8624-3123Shi Caohttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6448-6674Michael Barnett-Cowanhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2839-8562Jennifer Bogerhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6150-151X BackgroundAdvancements in supporting personalized health care and well-being using virtual reality (VR) have created opportunities to use immersive games to support a healthy lifestyle for persons living with dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Collaboratively designing exercise video games (exergames) as a multistakeholder team is fundamental to creating games that are attractive, effective, and accessible. ObjectiveThis research extensively explores the use of human-centered design methods that involve persons living with dementia in long-term care facilitates, exercise professionals, content developers, game designers, and researchers in the creation of VR exergames targeting physical activity promotion for persons living with dementia/MCI. MethodsConceptualization, collaborative design, and playtesting activities were carried out to design VR exergames to engage persons living with dementia in exercises to promote upper limb flexibility, strength, and aerobic endurance. We involved a total of 7 persons living with dementia/MCI, 5 exercise professionals, 5 community-dwelling older adults, a VR company for content creation, and a multidisciplinary research team with game designers, engineers, and kinesiology experts. ResultsAn immersive VR exergame called Seas the Day was jointly designed and developed and it is freely available to be played in state-of-the-art VR headsets (Oculus Quest 1, 2). A model for the triadic interaction (health care institution, industry partner, academia) is also presented to illustrate how different stakeholders contribute to the design of VR exergames that consider/complement complex needs, preferences, and motivators of an underrepresented group of end users. ConclusionsThis study provides evidence that a collaborative multistakeholder design results in more tailored and context-aware VR games for persons living with dementia. The insights and lessons learned from this research can be used by others to co-design games, including remote engagement techniques that were used during the COVID-19 pandemic.https://games.jmir.org/2022/1/e29987 |
| spellingShingle | John Muñoz Samira Mehrabi Yirou Li Aysha Basharat Laura E Middleton Shi Cao Michael Barnett-Cowan Jennifer Boger Immersive Virtual Reality Exergames for Persons Living With Dementia: User-Centered Design Study as a Multistakeholder Team During the COVID-19 Pandemic JMIR Serious Games |
| title | Immersive Virtual Reality Exergames for Persons Living With Dementia: User-Centered Design Study as a Multistakeholder Team During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_full | Immersive Virtual Reality Exergames for Persons Living With Dementia: User-Centered Design Study as a Multistakeholder Team During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Immersive Virtual Reality Exergames for Persons Living With Dementia: User-Centered Design Study as a Multistakeholder Team During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Immersive Virtual Reality Exergames for Persons Living With Dementia: User-Centered Design Study as a Multistakeholder Team During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_short | Immersive Virtual Reality Exergames for Persons Living With Dementia: User-Centered Design Study as a Multistakeholder Team During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_sort | immersive virtual reality exergames for persons living with dementia user centered design study as a multistakeholder team during the covid 19 pandemic |
| url | https://games.jmir.org/2022/1/e29987 |
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