Exploring the Potential of Gamification Among Frail Elderly Persons
📜 Abstract
The application of game elements a in non-gaming context offers a great potential regarding the engagement of senior citizens with information systems. In this paper, we suggest the application of gamification to routine tasks and leisure activities, namely physical and cognitive therapy, the gamification of real-life activities which are no longer accessible due to age-related changes and the application of game design elements to foster social interaction. Furthermore, we point out important chances and challenges such as the lack of gaming experience among the target audience and highlight possible areas for future work which offer valuable design opportunities for frail elderly audiences.
✨ Summary
The paper is an early conceptual contribution arguing that gamification for frail older adults should address three related goals: supporting routine physical and cognitive activities, recreating otherwise inaccessible real-world experiences, and encouraging social interaction. It identifies design constraints including age-related sensory, cognitive, and physical changes; limited familiarity with digital games; the risk that game elements become an unhelpful addition to already burdensome tasks; and the workload and computer literacy of care staff.
Later work has cited the paper as a reference for applying game-design elements to physical and cognitive therapy, inaccessible activities, and social engagement among older adults. A systematic review of gamification techniques in elderly care lists it among the foundational contributions in this area, while subsequent scholarship explicitly revisits its emphasis on limited digital-game experience and accessible, meaningful gamification. (gredos.usal.es) The paper’s themes also align with later research on accessible exergames, long-term-care interventions, and co-designed gamified systems for frail nursing-home residents, although these later studies constitute developments of the broader research direction rather than direct evaluations of this workshop paper. (journal.gerontechnology.org)