Exergames and Their Acceptance Among Nursing Home Residents

Abstract

The purpose of this uncontrolled, pre-post longitudinal pilot study was to evaluate how many persons among nursing home residents with dementia would accept the accelerometer-based exergames and to get to know their special characteristics. The pre-post assessment was conducted in a sample of 79 residents. Of these residents, a total of 41 (51.8%) showed cognitive impairment indicative of dementia according the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). By the end of the first phase of the study, which lasted 3 weeks, 27 of the 79 residents had accepted the use of exergames and continued to play the games during the second phase of the study (which, depending on the nursing home, lasted either 3 weeks or 8 weeks). Participants who accepted the exergames were significantly younger, had less cognitive impairment, and were interested in more hobbies. In participants who accepted the games, cognitive function improved slightly over the study, but not in a statistically significant fashion. Our findings suggest that, with supervision, exergames may be suitable for every fifth person in a nursing home.