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Understanding The Experiences Of Older Adults While Using Interactive Surfaces To Encourage Activity Participation
Lim, Kianying Joyce
Lim, Kianying Joyce
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Abstract
With mixed reality (MR) technologies becoming a popular tool in the promotion of healthy ageing, there is a need to know more about the facilitators and barriers to using these technologies in older participants. Participation is an important component of healthy ageing, where staying physically and cognitively active through meaningful activities offers benefits like reducing obesity, lowering risk of cardiovascular disease, maintaining cognitive health and enhancing emotional well-being, ultimately leading to a better quality of life. Despite the importance of staying active, many older adults fail to meet recommended activity levels, raising concerns about the long-term implications on their independence and quality of life. Most of the current research on MR technology use among older adults has concentrated on its application in clinical settings and has mainly investigated the effectiveness of MR-based applications on health outcomes instead of focusing on user experience. There remains a need for more research that aim to understand the perspective of older adult users to ascertain the feasibility and user experience with MR-based applications for these individuals. To fill this research gap, a systematic review was conducted to understand the UX aspect of older adults’ use of MR applications. Two studies were then conducted to understand the different aspects of UX of older adults using MR applications, using a MR-based digital interactive experience known as the EDNA Playboards.
To explore the factors influencing older adults’ participation in activities, this thesis first utilised the Family of Participation-Related Constructs (fPRC) model, discussed in Chapter 1, which highlighted that participation in an activity is not just about being present (i.e., attendance), but also requires the attendee’s involvement. This leads to the importance of assessing internal and external factors that may be barriers and facilitators to engaging in activities during older adulthood. In relation to MR applications, understanding the older adults’ user experience (UX) helps address any barriers that may impede older adults’ participation, attendance and involvement in engaging in such technology facilitated activities, while also supporting facilitators in running these activities effectively. The Components of User Experience (CUE), detailed in Chapter 2, offers a structured method for assessing the usability (instrumental qualities), emotion reactions, and aesthetics (non-instrumental qualities) of MR applications, components that form a comprehensive view of UX that goes beyond usability.
The systematic review (Chapter 4), which aimed to comprehend the existing research results regarding the user experience (UX) of MR applications for older adults, analysed recent experimental research on the instrumental, emotional, and non-instrumental facets of user experience among healthy older adults concerning MR applications. The review analysed studies from January 2010 to July 2021 and identified 15 eligible studies, all of which were found to assess instrumental quality, with most also examining emotional responses of the older adult participants. However, only six explored the aesthetic qualities of the MR applications. All studies aimed to improve health domains, such as cognitive or physical training. Overall, the systematic review highlighted that the instrumental quality of MR applications was the focus within user experience research, with substantially fewer studies addressing the non-instrumental aspects.
To address some of the gaps identified in the systematic review, two empirical studies were conducted to investigate the experiences of older adults using a surface computing based digital interactive system. The first of these studies was carried out with a group of older adults living in a retirement village (Chapter 6), while the second involved people living in an aged care facility (Chapter 7). The EDNA Playboards system was designed to foster physical and social engagement as well as cognitive stimulation. The studies focused on the participants’ engagement and UX with the digital interactive system, and utilised a mixed-methods research design where participants completed a questionnaire after their involvement in a semi-structured interview.
Empirical Study 1 (Chapter 6) involved eleven residents (mean age ± standard deviation: 78 ± 7.94 years; six males and five females) from a retirement village in Australia. Both quantitative and qualitative results indicated an overall positive experience with the EDNA Playboards system. Participants noted social and cognitive benefits from their interaction with the system. They emphasised their preference for clear objectives, suitable levels of challenge, additional time for familiarisation, and recognisable audiovisual effects instead of digital ones. These findings offer important insights for game designers creating interactive systems that cater to older adults.
Empirical Study 2 (Chapter 7), involved ten residents (mean age ± standard deviation: 86.6 ± 4.7 years; four males and six females) from an aged care facility in Australia. Participants engaged with EDNA Playboards in one-hour sessions, playing in groups of three or four. While also designed as a mixed method research, this study did not include quantitative analysis as the participants did not return the questionnaires post-game session. Nevertheless, the qualitative analysis suggested an overall favourable UX, with participants appreciating the cognitive challenge and the opportunity for social interaction. They indicated a desire for straightforward instructions, a slow introduction process to prevent any feelings of being overwhelmed, and clearly defined gameplay goals. Although they found the visual components to be a unique and welcomed part of the interactive experience, the audio elements were perceived as confusing. These insights were valuable for creating MR interactive experiences specifically designed for older adults.
As exploratory studies into the use of EDNA Playboards, the findings of this thesis were limited by the small sample size, single-site recruitment, and a single MR session, restricting generalisability. However, the results and discussion offer valuable preliminary insights into the feasibility of MR systems like EDNA Playboards in retirement villages and aged care settings and identify potential modifications to enhance older adults’ experiences prior to larger scale studies and broader implementation.
Keywords
mixed reality, MR, healthy ageing, older participants, user experience, UX, EDNA Playboards
Date
2025-01
Type
Thesis
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Book
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Issue
Page Range
1-221
Article Number
ACU Department
Faculty of Health Sciences
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Open Access Status
Open access
License
CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)
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Notes
This work © 2025, Kianying Joyce Lim, is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.