Clinical trial NCT02798081: Virtual Reality Games for Elderly Socialization
Official title: Virtual Reality Games for Elderly Socialization
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Aged
Keywords: augmentative and alternative communication
social inclusion
serious games
Information and communication technologies
Lead sponsor: Faculdade de Medicina do ABC
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2016-06-14
Enrollment: 52
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 60
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: A minimum of 23 people aged 60 years and older, of both sexes, from an informatics course for beginners will participate in the study. The evaluation will consist mainly in answering two validated questionnaires on socialization, the short Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA-S) and short-form UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-6). Reaction time and performance will also be measured by three virtual reality games, namely Reaction Time, Random and Moviletrando. All this evaluation will be repeated in three moments: T0 - at baseline; T1 - after 8 conventional informatics classes and; T2 - after 8 informatics classes which includes 15 minutes for practicing virtual reality games.

Detailed description: Background: The use of new Technologies, such as the resources of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), appears as a valuable tool to promote socialization in many groups of people. Serious games with virtual reality are an example of these resources and might bring benefits also to the elderly population, allowing an enjoyable and safe interaction that uses various sensorial stimuli. The purpose of this study protocol is to evaluate the effects of practicing virtual reality games on elderly socialization.

Method/Design: It will be an experimental, prospective longitudinal study which will use serious games with virtual reality to improve the socialization of elderly people. A minimum of 23 people aged 60 years and older, of both sexes, from an informatics course for beginners will participate in the study. The evaluation will consist mainly in answering two validated questionnaires on socialization, the short Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA-S) and short-form UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-6). Reaction time and performance will also be measured by three virtual reality games, namely Reaction Time, Random and Moviletrando. All this evaluation will be repeated in three moments: T0 - at baseline; T1 - after 8 conventional informatics classes and; T2 - after 8 informatics classes which includes 15 minutes for practicing virtual reality games.

Discussion: This study will determine whether the practice of virtual reality games in addition to the usual informatics classes contributes to elderly socialization. The evolution in socialization, the evolution of reaction time and performance in virtual reality games and the correlation of motor learning to socialization will also be investigated.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* people aged over 60 years;
* both sexes
* spontaneously enrolled in the informatics beginner class for seniors of the Center of Reference for Elderly (CRI) in Ribeirão Pires

Exclusion Criteria:

* Less than 75% of frequency in the classes between the assessments;
* do not completion of the three moments of assessment;
* having motor impairment of the upper limbs or cognition impairment,which prevents them to practice the games.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Socialization assessed by SELSA-S
timeFrame: up to 10 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: time of response during the practise of virtual reality games as assessed by TRT, Random and Moviletrando
timeFrame: up to 10 weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Santo André
country: Brazil
facility: Faculdade de Medicina do ABC
state: Sao Paulo
Study officials:
affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina do ABC
name: Thaiany Antunes, Master
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Antunes TPC, Oliveira ASB, Crocetta TB, Antao JYFL, Barbosa RTA, Guarnieri R, Massetti T, Monteiro CBM, Abreu LC. Computer classes and games in virtual reality environment to reduce loneliness among students of an elderly reference center: Study protocol for a randomised cross-over design. Medicine (Baltimore). 2017 Mar;96(10):e5954. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000005954.