Modification in the Motor Skills of Seniors in Care Homes Using Serious Games and the Impact of COVID-19: Field Study
Creators: name: Kleschnitzki, Jana Marina
name: Grossmann, Inga
name: Beyer, Reinhard
name: Beyer, Luzi
Publisher: name: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: serious games
subject: motor skills
subject: motor
subject: long-term care
subject: exercise
subject: movement
subject: coronavirus effects
subject: eHealth
subject: seniors
subject: older adult
subject: elder
subject: senior population
subject: aged
subject: care home
subject: intervention effects analysis
subject: COVID-19
subject: pandemic
subject: digital game
subject: digital health
subject: physical activity
subject: 150 Psychologie

description: Background The pandemic has highlighted the importance of low-threshold opportunities for exercise and physical activity. At the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to many restrictions, which affected seniors in care facilities in the form of severe isolation. The isolation led, among other things, to a lack of exercise, which has led to a multitude of negative effects for this target group. Serious games can potentially help by being used anywhere at any time to strengthen skills with few resources. Objective The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a serious game to strengthen motor skills (study 1) and the influence of pandemic restrictions (study 2) on seniors in care facilities. Methods The data on motor skills (measured by the Tinetti test) originated from an intervention study with repeated measurements that was interrupted by the pandemic conditions. Data were collected 4 times every 3 months with an intervention group (IG, training 3 times for 1 hour per week) and a control group (CG, no intervention). There were 2 substudies. The first considered the first 6 months until the pandemic restrictions, while the second considered the influence of the restrictions on motor skills. Results The sample size was 70. The IG comprised 31 (44%) participants, with 22 (71%) female and 9 (29%) male seniors with an average age of 85 years. The CG comprised 39 (56%) participants, with 31 (79%) female and 8 (21%) male seniors with an average age of 87 years. In study 1, mixed-design ANOVA showed no significant interaction between measurement times and group membership for the first measurements (F2.136=1.414, P&lt;.25, partial η2=.044), but there was a significant difference between the CG (mean 16.23, SD 1.1) and the IG (mean 19.81, SD 1.2) at the third time of measurement (P=.02). In study 2 the mixed-design ANOVA (used to investigate motor skills before and after the pandemic conditions between the 2 groups) couldn’t reveal any significant interaction between measurement times and group membership: F1.67=2.997, P&lt;.09, partial η2=.043. However, there was a significant main effect of the time of measurement: F1.67=5.44, P&lt;.02, partial η²=.075. Conclusions During the first 6 months, the IG showed increased motor skills, whereas the motor skills of the CG slightly deteriorated and showed a statistically significant difference after 6 months. The pandemic restrictions leveled the difference and showed a significant negative effect on motor skills over 3 months. As our results show, digital games have the potential to break down access barriers and promote necessary maintenance for important skills. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of low-threshold opportunities for exercise and physical activity. This potentially great benefit for the challenges of tomorrow shows the relevance of the topic and demonstrates the urgent need for action and research. Trial Registration Deutsches Register klinischer Studien DRKS00016633; https://tinyurl.com/yckmj4px