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Engaging Institutionalized Older Adults Through Surface-Based Exergames

This is an ongoing project.

Older adults in nursing homes often lead sedentary lifestyles, which reduces their life expectancy. Full-body motion-control games provide an opportunity for these adults to remain active and engaged; these games are not designed with age-related impairments in mind, which prevents the games from being leveraged to increase the activity levels of older adults. In this work, we present studies aimed at developing game design guidelines for full-body motion controls using Microsoft’s Kinect for older adults experiencing age-related changes and impairments. We also provide a software toolkit (KinectWheels) that allows wheelchair movements to be used as an input device. Our studies also demonstrate how full-body motion-control games can accommodate a variety of user abilities, have a positive effect on mood and, by extension, the emotional well-being of older adults. 

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Partners

Saskatoon Health Region – inMotion Saskatchewan – NSERC – SurfNet