Gamification for Geriatric Mental Health: Level Up or Game Over?

Abstract

Introduction Gamification, or the incorporation of game-like elements in non-game contexts to support or develop specific behaviors has been a recent major trend in technology. Promising results regarding its effectiveness to promote healthful behaviors have been shown in multiple studies. However, much of the prior research has been focused on younger adults or for non-mental health indications in Older Adults. Our aim in this study is to assess existing evidence to guide Gamification approaches for geriatric mental health. Methods Given the heterogeneity of approaches that comprise Gamification, we elected to conduct a narrative literature review. We conducted a literature search in Google Scholar, PubMed, and the references of existing literature to identify a broad suite of papers on this topic. The search terms we utilized were “Gamif*”, “Mental health”, “Older adult”, “Geriatric”, and “Therap*”. Results The number of studies focused on gamification and geriatric mental health is low, however current research does show some possible effectiveness for older adults. Previous studies have shown some efficacy in engagement with activation therapy for sub-threshold depression, motivational enhancement, self-sufficiency, improved resilience, and enhancing adherence to therapy. However, we noted that this is a resource-heavy approach requiring access to devices, internet, data plans, and reliance on cognitive ability, and human support. Conclusions Gamification holds potential as a tool to enhance mental health interventions. However, evidence to support its direct benefit for Older Adults is scant. Furthermore, we must evaluate whether these benefits would be accessible to the majority of seniors who may not have easy access to devices, internet, data plans, or have the cognitive ability and human support to fully engage with this technology. This research was funded by This work is supported in part by an unrestricted philanthropic gift to the technology in aging lab at McLean hospital from Eric Warren Goldman Gamification, or the incorporation of game-like elements in non-game contexts to support or develop specific behaviors has been a recent major trend in technology. Promising results regarding its effectiveness to promote healthful behaviors have been shown in multiple studies. However, much of the prior research has been focused on younger adults or for non-mental health indications in Older Adults. Our aim in this study is to assess existing evidence to guide Gamification approaches for geriatric mental health. Given the heterogeneity of approaches that comprise Gamification, we elected to conduct a narrative literature review. We conducted a literature search in Google Scholar, PubMed, and the references of existing literature to identify a broad suite of papers on this topic. The search terms we utilized were “Gamif*”, “Mental health”, “Older adult”, “Geriatric”, and “Therap*”. The number of studies focused on gamification and geriatric mental health is low, however current research does show some possible effectiveness for older adults. Previous studies have shown some efficacy in engagement with activation therapy for sub-threshold depression, motivational enhancement, self-sufficiency, improved resilience, and enhancing adherence to therapy. However, we noted that this is a resource-heavy approach requiring access to devices, internet, data plans, and reliance on cognitive ability, and human support. Gamification holds potential as a tool to enhance mental health interventions. However, evidence to support its direct benefit for Older Adults is scant. Furthermore, we must evaluate whether these benefits would be accessible to the majority of seniors who may not have easy access to devices, internet, data plans, or have the cognitive ability and human support to fully engage with this technology.