Authors:
Claudia Oppenauer-Meerskraut
1
;
Johannes Kropf
2
;
Anna Bösendorfer
3
;
Matthias Gira
2
;
Mario Heller
4
;
Kerstin Lampel
4
;
Andreas Kumpf
5
and
Tanja Stamm
1
Affiliations:
1
Medical University Vienna, Austria
;
2
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria
;
3
University of Applied Sciences FH Campus Vienna, Austria
;
4
St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, Austria
;
5
WPU GmbH, Austria
Keyword(s):
Physical Activity, Older Adults, Kinect, Avatar, User Requirements, User Experience, Qualitative Methods.
Abstract:
Background: Physical activity in older adults is an important protective factor for preventing morbidity and mortality and increases well-being and independent living. Within the so-called “Train&Win” project, a physical home training program with gaming elements based on the Microsoft Kinect sensor and an avatar will be developed. Method: Two user studies using a qualitative approach were conducted in order to guarantee a user-centered design: a focus group with 14 participants and a mock-up study with seven participants. Results: Contrary to published literature and our expectations, a majority of participants (8/14; 57%) explicitly refused gaming elements, such as competitions between the participants or motivational design inputs for process feedback. Thus, the training program should be related to the physical training experiences of the participants which were mainly sports and be “realistic” in terms of the presentation and interaction with the avatar. Both studies showed the
necessity for an individually designed training, including typical non-technology aspects of a physical training. Conclusion: The results stress the importance of considering diverse attitudes, technology experiences and needs of older adults. For a high user acceptance, the training has to be individually adapted and consider more traditional non-technology training elements than exergaming issues.
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