Positive Impact of Exergaming on Older Adults' Mental and Social Well-Being: In Search of Evidence

Exergames aim at stimulating healthy people or patients needing rehabilitation to do physical exercise to enhance their physical state (e.g., postural balance, muscle power). As older adults generally have more health problems than younger ones, such games could be beneficial to them. Since the introduction of the Wii gaming system by Nintendo in 2006, several literature reviews have been conducted that examine the impact of exergames on older adults’ physical well-being. However, less attention has been paid to the potential impact on their mental and social well-being. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore what we can learn from previously conducted empirical studies about the impact of exergaming on these kinds of well-being. Although a limited number of literature reviews show that some empirical studies have been conducted around these issues it is not clear that the results are evidence-based. The question remains whether the results can be used by rehabilitation centers and associations for senior citizens to promote exergaming among older adults also for their mental and social well-being. The purpose of this state-of-the-art paper is to present an overview to address this question and to make recommendations about guidelines for the research design of future evidence-based empirical studies.