EMOGAME: Digital Games Therapy for Older Adults

Abstract

EmoGame is a cognitive and emotional game useful for helping older adults who experience Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). EmoGame was developed with a memory therapy approach. This therapy can help cognitive and positive emotions and introduce objects through pictures, such as pictures of old objects and old music in old age. This study aims to build a game application for MCI older adults on the Android platform to support improved cognitive abilities and positive emotions for older adults. This app has two games which are memory puzzle and memory exploration. This study uses a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods through data collection questionnaires, diary entries 3E (Expressing, Experiences and Emotions), and interviews. Respondents were selected aged 50 years and above through the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The findings found that memory therapy can help older adults increase positive emotions through digital games. Through diary entries and Diary 3E, respondents’ feelings and experiences described positive emotions (happy, smile and like). The PANAS questionnaire (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) was conducted for pre and post-testing to find positive emotions in EmoGame. Analysis of mean scores showed positive emotional factors at pre-interaction (M = 3.39, SD = 0.89) with post-interaction levels of positive emotions (M = 4.02, SD = 0.97), meaning there were significant differences in positive emotions of the older adults. The memory therapy applied in the EmoGame app is effective in helping to reduce the problem of memory decline and positive emotions for MCI older adults.