A Scoping Review of Digital Gaming Research Involving Older Adults Aged 85 and Older

Abstract

Background: Interest in the use of digital game technologies by older adults is growing across disciplines from health and gerontology to computer science and game studies. The objective of this scoping review was to examine research evidence involving the oldest old (persons 85 years of age or greater) and digital game technology. Materials and Methods: PubMed, CINHAL, and Scopus were searched, and 46 articles were included in this review. Results: Results highlighted that 60 percent of articles were published in gerontological journals, whereas only 8.7 percent were published in computer science journals. No studies focused directly on the oldest old population. Few studies included sample sizes greater than 100 participants. Seven primary and 34 secondary themes were identified, of which Hardware Technology and Assessment were the most common. Conclusions: Existing evidence demonstrates the paucity of studies engaging older adults 85 years of age and above regarding the use of digital gaming and highlights a new understudied cohort for further research focus. Recommendations for future research include intentional recruitment and proportionate representation of participants q85 years of age, large sample sizes, and explicit mention of specific numbers of participants q85 years of age, which are necessary to advance knowledge in this area. Integrating a rigorous and robust mixedmethods approach including theoretical perspectives would lend itself to further in-depth understanding and knowledge generation in this field.

Transcendent Technology and Mobile eHealth

“…For older adults, the exploration of technology use is increasing in popularity (Marston, Freeman, Bishop, & Beech, 2016;Marston & Graner-Ray, 2016) with technology now being geared towards improving the quality of life of older adults, whether through applications for home support services (Marston et al, 2015), medication reminders, mirrors that display health data, medical implants, or wearable technology (European Commission: Information Society and Media, 2007). Research shows that technology can change the family situations of elderly individuals and are of utmost importance for older adults (Silverstein & Giarrusso, 2010).…”

The Teletalker – A Design Researcher’s Tool to Explore Intergenerational Online Video Connectivity in-the-Wild

“…Digital connectivity has many benefits [5][6][7][8], one of them is to support contact with relatives and friends [9,10]. The advantages of maintaining social contact are particularly of interest to the older user group, who are more at risk of being socially isolated [11][12][13].…”

“…As Drury et al [120] suggests, people live in an increasingly age-segregated society [120]. Knowledge needs to be synthesized in order to understand which strategies are effective to uncover and reduce ageist attitudes, as well as whether digital technological interventions such as YouTube, Facebook, and videogames [5,7,121,122] may help positive intergenerational communication, as noted by Marston and van Hoof [123] across age-friendly cities and communities. Policy makers will benefit from learning about these strategies to break the age segregation/ageism cycle.…”

Exergame Experience of Young and Old Individuals Under Different Difficulty Adjustment Methods

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