Abstract
Little is known on how to effectively represent rehabilitation progress, over a period of time, using exercise game (exergame) technologies. Progress in falls rehabilitation, which consists of improved performance in balance and muscle strength, is essential to assuring seniors of a reduced risk of falling. In this paper, we build on our previous research into exergames for falls, and we investigate how an exergame system can be used to communicate long-term progress to seniors. Using a multiphase user-centered requirements gathering process, we first investigated stakeholder perspectives regarding progress in self-managed rehabilitation. Following this we describe the home-based evaluation of our prototype exergame system, which highlights rehabilitation progress, with seniors, over a period of 2 months. Progress, in our system is communicated using charts of exercise performance and frequency, as well as medals awarded for achieving longer-term rehabilitation milestones. We report on seniors' opinions and preferences regarding the potential of our exergame system to communicate this rehabilitation progress in a meaningful way. Finally we discuss implications for design, based on our studies, to inform the development of more effective exergame systems for long-term unassisted rehabilitation in the home.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 167 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 31 Dec 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2017 |