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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The purpose of this paper was to create service models for cognitively stimulating mobile
games and incorporate them into Finnish and Chinese elderly care. The implementation involved the
use of two different mobile games as part of the everyday lives of older adults in care homes in Finland
(3 months) and China (6 months). Although a large number of publications examine serious games
in elderly care, there are rather few publications related to the practical implementation within the
elderly care processes. In general, rehabilitation orientated games should incorporate entertainment
(motivation) and relevant therapeutic content (rehabilitation) in order to be effective. Regardless of the
game design, successful implementation of the games in elderly care is paramount to benefit the end
user. In this paper, two mobile games were investigated as a case study. To investigate the therapeutic
content of the games, the game outcomes (game scores and time stamps) were automatically recorded
to facilitate analysis of the participant’s progress during the trial. To investigate motivation, user
feedback was collected through observation of the game trials and by interviewing the nursing staff
and the participants (test group). The gaming service implementation was designed in collaboration
with the nursing staff and researchers, according to an experimentation-driven approach, in which
the service model ideas were tested by the professionals before piloting. In both countries, the players
and the nursing staff found the games showed potential as self-managed rehabilitation tools. Other
significant effects of gameplay were enhanced recreation and self-managed activity level. Despite
cultural differences, the gaming experience was amazingly similar and improvements in game scores
were also observed during the trial in both countries. The biggest difference between the pilots was
the implementation process, which led to the development of two different service models that are
reported in this paper. In Finland, the games were embedded into the care practices and the nursing
staff were responsible for the piloting. In China, the games were independent of the care process and
an external service provider (the researcher) managed the piloting. The findings imply that service
design in different cultures should be carefully considered when implementing new digital services.
Description
Keywords
Cultural comparison Serious games Service design Older adults Recreation Self-managed rehabilitation