User experience of interactive technologies for people with dementia: comparative observational study

Background: Serious games (SGs) are used as complementary approaches to stimulate patients with dementia. However, many of the SGs use out-of-the-shelf technologies that may not always be suitable for such populations, as they can lead to negative behaviors, such as anxiety, fatigue, and even cybersickness. Objective: This study aims to evaluate how patients with dementia interact and accept 5 out-of-the-shelf technologies while completing 10 virtual reality tasks. Methods: A total of 12 participants diagnosed with dementia (mean age 75.08 [SD 8.07] years, mean Mini-Mental State Examination score 17.33 [SD 5.79], and mean schooling 5.55 [SD 3.30]) at a health care center in Portugal were invited to participate in this study. A within-subject experimental design was used to allow all participants to interact with all technologies, such as HTC VIVE, head-mounted display (HMD), tablet, mouse, augmented reality (AR), leap motion (LM), and a combination of HMD with LM. Participants’ performance was quantified through behavioral and verbal responses, which were captured through video recordings and written notes. Results: The findings of this study revealed that the user experience using technology was dependent on the patient profile; the patients had a better user experience when they use technologies with direct interaction configuration as opposed to indirect interaction configuration in terms of assistance required (P=.01) and comprehension (P=.01); the participants did not trigger any emotional responses when using any of the technologies; the participants’performance was task-dependent; the most cost-effective technology was the mouse, whereas the least cost-effective was AR; and all the technologies, except for one (HMD with LM), were not exposed to external hazards. Conclusions: Most participants were able to perform tasks using out-of-the-shelf technologies. However, there is no perfect technology, as they are not explicitly designed to address the needs and skills of people with dementia. Here, we propose a set of guidelines that aim to help health professionals and engineers maximize user experience when using such technologies for the population with dementia.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Therapeutic serious game design guidelines for stimulating cognitive abilities of children with speech and language delay

The creation of an effective therapeutic serious game (TSG) is highly dependent upon its design and the fundamental knowledge of the users. Furthermore, the TSG is designed for a purpose to the users by incorporating the needs of the users in all design components.Although numerous studies have been conducted on guidelines for designing serious games, to date, studies on the specific TSG’s design guidelines for stimulating the cognitive ability of children with speech and language delay (CSLD) has yet to be comprehensively studied.Therefore, this study focuses on the set of design guidelines for the development of TSG for CSLD, specifically on cognitive stimulation.The TSG design guidelines in this paper are derived through the study of relevant literature, and best practices gained from interviews with experts in the area of speech pathology.These guidelines would be useful for researchers and game designers to design TSG for CSLD focusing on cognitive stimulation

Diseño de Juegos Serios Utilizando los Buenos Principios del Aprendizaje Basados en los Videojuegos y el Modelo de Generación de Conocimiento para Analítica Visual

This article aims to improve learning by proposing a process to design a serious game as an environment where the user deduces knowledge through the challenges of the game, using the knowledge to be acquired as a strategy. The proposed process is a combination of the Good Principles of Learning based on video games [1] and the Knowledge Generation Model for Visual Analysis [2]. Taking into account the proposed method, a design will be generated that uses the game mechanics to collect data, measure and evaluate the change in player behavior within the game in relation to the different game states

Musiquence – Design, Implementation and Validation of a Customizable Music and Reminiscence Cognitive Stimulation Platform for People with Dementia

Dementia is a neurodegenerative disease that affects millions of individuals worldwide and is challenging to diagnose as symptoms may only perceivable decades later. The disease leads to a gradual loss of memory, learning, orientation, language, and comprehension skills, which compromises activities of daily living. Health-related costs caused by dementia will continue to increase over the next few years; between the years 2005 and 2009, an increase of 34% (from $315 to$422 billion worldwide) was observed in treating dementia-related issues. Pharmaceutical approaches have been developed to treat dementia symptoms; unfortunately, the risk of side effects is high. For this reason, nonpharmaceutical methods such as music and reminiscence therapies have gained acceptance as patients with dementia positively respond to such approaches even at later stages of the disease. Nevertheless, further research is needed to understand how music and reminiscence therapy should be used and to quantify their impact on individuals with dementia. The development of serious games has gained attention as an alternative approach to stimulate patients. However, the clinical impact that serious games have on individuals with dementia is still unclear. In this dissertation, we contribute with new knowledge regarding the usage of music and reminiscence approaches in people with dementia through a theoretical model. Based on Baddeley’s working memory model, our model aims to explain how the therapeutic properties of music and reminiscence can have a beneficial effect. To test our model, we developed a novel interactive platform called Musiquence, in which healthcare professionals can create music and reminiscence based cognitive activities to stimulate people with dementia. In this dissertation, we present the results from several studies about the usage and effects that music and reminiscence have on such a population. We performed two studies using Musiquence to study the feasibility of a novel learning method based on musical feedback to aid people with dementia during task performance in virtual reality settings. Results show that participants relied more on music-based feedback during the task performance of virtual reality activities than in other forms of feedback. Also, data suggest that the music-based feedback system can improve task performance, compensating for some dementia-related deficits. We also used Musiquence in a longitudinal one-month-long pilot study to assess its efficacy when used for a cognitive stimulation intervention in dementia patients. The results of the study are promising. The 3 participants showed improvements in terms of general cognition, quality of life, mood, and verbal fluency

Factores psicológicos que determinan el empleo de las TIC con estudiantes de Educación Secundaria desde una perspectiva inclusiva

Inclusive education is a key tool for promoting equity in educational opportunities, that is using ICT and accessible web and non-web content to support the learning of students with disabilities in inclusive settings within compulsory education. This thesis is focusing on disability including the challenges that disabled students faced in Greece. An elaborate description of the terms Special Education and Inclusive Education is made. Additionally, ways supporting Greek special education system are also stated. In this context, challenges concerning access to software application faced by disable users are mentioned, as well as the most regularly used Assistive Technologies. Guidelines are also ponted out explaining how application, content and web-content can be made accessible to people with all types of disabilities. The study aims to determine how such familiar are Educators using ICT tools during the learning process of students with disabilities both in special and mainstream school setting, in Greece. More specifically, to define views and feelings regarding the benefits of using ICT for students with vision, speech and auditory disabilities, intellectual and cognitive disabilities, as well as physical impairments. Lastly, to investigate how much Educators are familiar with accessibility issues, applying accessibility tests and how capable Educators are to create comprehensible and navigable web and non-web content accessible by the disable. The study reveals that age and years of teaching experience in regular but also in special education play a significant role, as for the type of employment little contribution to the results and only for full-time Educators with public or private contracts

Aplicación de analíticas en la sistematización del diseño y validación de juegos serios para usuarios con discapacidad intelectual

En los últimos años, los Serious Games (juegos serios), también conocidos por otros muchos nombres como Learning Games o Educational Games (juegos educativos), se han convertido en herramientas de aprendizaje ampliamente utilizadas, de modo que hay muchos proyectos de desarrollo y de aplicación relacionados con este tipo de juegos. Sin embargo, se necesita más investigación sobre cómo crear diseños efectivos que optimicen el proceso de desarrollo y garanticen la adecuación de estos juegos a las habilidades cognitivas de los usuarios.Este problema es especialmente relevante cuando se quiere desarrollar un juego educativo para personas con discapacidad intelectual. Dado que este tipo de usuarios cuentan típicamente con problemas de comunicación, la utilización de métodos observacionales es muy complejo, costoso e incluso poco fiable para evaluar y validar el diseño de los juegos..