sg 22(1): e1

Research Article

Usability of serious games for the training of people with dementia

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  • @ARTICLE{10.4108/eai.11-7-2019.159946,
    author={C.S. Dietlein and O.L. Bock},
    title={Usability of serious games for the training of people with dementia},
    journal={EAI Endorsed Transactions on Serious Games},
    volume={6},
    number={1},
    publisher={EAI},
    journal_a={SG},
    year={2019},
    month={9},
    keywords={Training Games, Serious Games, Virtual Reality, Simulation},
    doi={10.4108/eai.11-7-2019.159946}
}
  • C.S. Dietlein
    O.L. Bock
    Year: 2019
    Usability of serious games for the training of people with dementia
    SG
    EAI
    DOI: 10.4108/eai.11-7-2019.159946
C.S. Dietlein1,*, O.L. Bock1
  • 1: Institute of Physiology and Anatomy, German Sport University Cologne, Am Sportpark Muengersdorf 6, 50933 Cologne
*Contact email: corinna.dietlein@stud.dshs-koeln.de

Abstract

Dementia is a progressive syndrome affecting executive and motor functions. Serious gaming (SG) is an emerging treatment. However, its added benefit is difficult to establish since standardized usability evaluations are missing. We apply a recently developed observer-rated scale to determine the usability of two SG scenarios for people with dementia (PwD). Raters watched video recordings of a SG (MobiAssist) played by PwD and a virtual city through which healthy older adults walked. Raters completed the scale for both data sets and gave a prospective rating of VR city used by PwD. Usability was highest for MobiAssist, intermediate for VR city by healthy older persons, and lowest for the prospective rating of VR city used by PwD. The difference between the highest and the lowest data set was statistically significant with moderate magnitude but seems not substantial enough to exclude PwD from cognitively demanding training environments (e.g. VR city).

Keywords
Training Games, Serious Games, Virtual Reality, Simulation
Received
2019-05-08
Accepted
2019-08-19
Published
2019-09-03
Publisher
EAI
http://dx.doi.org/10.4108/eai.11-7-2019.159946

Copyright © 2019 C.S. Dietlein et al., licensed to EAI. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unlimited use, distribution and reproduction in any medium so long as the original work is properly cited.