Games for Health 2013

A major key to healthy aging is physical fitness. Despite the well-established benefits of regular physical activity 46 percent of adults aged 65 to 74, and 56 percent of adults over 75 engage in no leisure-time physical activity at all [1]. Therefore research is needed into strategies to increase participation and improve compliance with physical activity-based interventions for older people. Our study focuses on a new mode of physical activity: active video games. 

The intervention study is conducted at the Mayo Clinic Healthy Aging and Independent Living (HAIL) lab housed in Charter House, a continuing care retirement community in Rochester, Minn. Participants over 65 years of age living independently are recruited from this community. After instruction they gain unlimited, unsupervised access to the active video gaming system (Xbox Kinect) for a period of 12 weeks. The main focus of the study is their AVG behavior.

Though promising, research on active video games for seniors using affordable active gaming technology platforms is still in its infancy. There is a clear lack of rich or comprehensive models for understanding the basic experiences and processes for older persons. We are gathering rich, in-depth qualitative data on the active video gaming experience to better understand and make recommendations on how this new mode of physical activity can best be introduced and stimulated among seniors, as well as for whom it might be most suited.

Acknowledgements:This study is supported by the Mayo Clinic, TNO, VitaValley, the Noaber Foundation and the Dutch Ministries of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL & I) and Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS)."