Considerations about the design and evaluation of immersive exergames for virtual rehabilitation of elderly fallers.

• Ano de defesa: 2020
• Autor(a) principal: Pereira, Guido Augusto Faria
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Assistive technology; Elderly faller; Exergame; Exergame. immersive technologies; Idosos (Reabilitação); Realidade virtual; Tecnologia assistiva.,Tecnologias da saúde; Virtual rehabilitation
• Link de acesso: https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/3/3142/tde-20102020-123936/

The increase in life expectancy has been observed worldwide and led to the inversion of the population pyramids of various countries. The aging process causes physiological changes that can have important health consequences, such as those associated with postural control and balance maintenance, as well as cognitive deficits. Conventional physical therapy has treatments and exercises designed to prevent falls from the elderly, but still faces several challenges. Recent studies indicate that the inclusion, in conventional physical therapy treatment, of exercise-focused video games may contribute to balance rehabilitation and reduction of risk and incidence of falls. This research investigated the main aspects related to the development and evaluation, by physiotherapy specialists, of immersive videogames for physical exercise combined with cognitive-motor activities focused on elderly fallers. For this, besides surveying and analyzing the literature of the area, a video game called BALLOONS was developed, which was implemented in four different immersive systems, three of them in virtual reality and one in augmented reality. Three implementations were tested with eleven physiotherapists in two data collection sessions. In the first session the two systems were tested in virtual reality by six participants. In the second session, the three systems were tested, two in virtual reality and one in augmented reality, with eight participants, three of the participants from the first session. Later a fourth version in virtual reality was implemented but not tested. The results point to positive assessment by experts in terms of safety, tolerability and acceptability, but also point to the need for further adjustments regarding the intensity of physical exercise and the complexity and diversity of cognitive activities.