Digital video games for older adults with cognitive impairment

Abstract

Digital video games offer opportunities for older adults with cognitive impairment to engage in meaningful activities. However, to achieve this benefit digital video games are needed that take account of the players' cognitive impairment. This paper reports work with older adults with cognitive impairment due to dementia to find out how they can best be prompted to initiate and play games independently, what sorts of digital video activities they like to play, and if playing digital video games is engaging. The results demonstrate that older adults with cognitive impairment can learn to play new digital video activities and can be prompted to play independently through visual and auditory cues. Their behaviour indicates features of Flow similar to that reported in other gaming studies. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.