Assessing user engagement with a fall prevention game as an unsupervised exercise program for older people

Falling is, unfortunately, a leading cause of injury and death in the global elderly population. However, it has previously been shown that increased physical and cognitive activity can decrease the occurrence of falls in the elderly. This paper investigates the potential for a long-term, unsupervised fall prevention training tool in the form of the StepKinnection game, which was designed to exercise both reflex times and movement speed while also providing entertainment. Specifically, this game was used in a three month user study consisting of 10 participants over the age of 65. Adherence to the training program, enjoyment of the game, and ease of use of the game were investigated using a custom usability questionnaire, four established usability scales, heuristic evaluation of gameplay data, and semi-structured interviews. Results show that participants generally had positive attitudes towards the game, they felt that they would engage with this training program more than there current exercises, and that the game was easy to use without guidance or supervision beyond the initial set up support and instructions provided at the start of the experiment period.

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