Using Somatosensory Video Games to Promote Quality of Life for the Elderly with Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to explore health benefits of using somatosensory video games (SVG) on older adults with disabilities. A total of 61 participants aged 65-92 in a nursing home were recruited and 22 of them voluntarily agreed to be in the experimental group with 4-week SVG trainings. Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL), SF-8 (Quality Metric), was used to measure and to compare before and after the intervention in both groups. ANCOVA in SPSS 18.0 was used to analyze the data. Results of HRQOL showed that general health, physical function, role physical, and body pain in physical component summary and social functioning in mental component summary were significantly improved after the intervention. The study concluded that somatosensory video games had a great potential to be used as a health promotion tool for the elderly with disabilities. Case studies and qualitative approaches in further researches were suggested to understand the efficacy of this SVG intervention and to design individualized technology-based intervention programs for the elderly with special needs to promote their optimal health.