Study on Emotional Improvement and Health Promotion of Senior Citizens Participating in Virtual Reality Games

Abstract

In addition to medical care and health promotion, happiness, care and thoughtfulness associated with medical assistance are among the expectations and demands of the elderly society. Therefore, this study aims to explore the effects of health promotion and emotional improvement on elderly people by understanding the behavioral intentions of elderly people with various personality traits in participating in virtual reality games. In this study, we used a questionnaire on five personality traits, including extraversion (Extraversion), friendliness (Agreeableness), diligence and integrity (Conscientiousness), and psychosomatic (Neurotic), which was designed by the scholar Martinez and John (1998) in 1998 as a tool to improve the mental health of the elderly.
 This study validates that sensorial perception is an important influencing factor in the theoretical model of the behavioral intention of the elderly using virtual reality (VR) wearable devices. That is, the stronger the behavioral intention of the elderly when using VR high-tech products, the more frequent the use will be, and the more significant the improvement of the emotional effect. It is suggested that future research could develop a game plan suitable for the elderly with different characteristics.