Usabilidade da versão domiciliar do jogo sério VirtualTer: um estudo piloto

Abstract

Introduction: Gait and balance disorders are among the most common causes of falls in the elderly and often lead to injuries, disabilities, loss of independence and limitations in quality of life. One of the most promising treatment mechanisms in geriatric rehabilitation is Virtual Reality (VR), to help improve gait and postural balance in the elderly. VirtualTer is a serious low-cost VR game with innovative potential for home rehabilitation. Motor skills training through VR provides a motivating way to adhere and increase the level of physical activity at home, however, the literature is scarce regarding the feasibility of implementing serious VR games in the home environment. In this sense, it is important to investigate the usability of a serious VR home game and the intrinsic motivation of healthy elderly people after using the system, since this innovative rehabilitation strategy can be an efficient tool to improve postural balance of seniors. Objective: To analyze the usability of the home version of the VirtualTer serious game. Method: This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study, with a sample of 25 healthy elderly recruited in a non-probabilistic way and for convenience. The home version of the VirtualTer serious game, developed for the rehabilitation of postural balance in the elderly, was used. The game had VirtualTer challenge stages (forest, mountain and desert), which stimulate the lateral reach of the trunk. The game was run using a notebook and the C0NTR0LL system, a web gesture recognition system via webcam. The game was applied in the home environment, and each elderly person performed three repetitions. An evaluation of sociodemographic data was performed, in addition to the application of the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB); International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ); and the WHODAS 2.0 Disability Rating Scale. After applying the game, the elderly answered the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) and the System Usability Scale (SUS). Results: The study included 25 elderly people, with moderate physical performance, a high degree of physical inactivity and sedentary behavior, 68% of whom were female. The median age was 69 (IQ 61 – 76.5) years. The total score of the SUS scale obtained a median of 72.50 (IQ 95 – 28) points; which classifies a good usability of the home version of VirtualTer. The variables gender (p=0.04), marital status (p=0.03) and education (p=0.01) indicated to influence the result of the usability scale. The intrinsic motivation measured by the IMI resulted in a median of 87 (IQ 96 – 56) points, which indicates greater motivation of the players. Conclusion: The home version of VirtualTer is a serious game with good usability and good intrinsic motivation, from the patient's point of view, which indicates the effectiveness of the system as a rehabilitation tool for postural balance in the elderly. This study indicated the need to improve the exergame through refinements of the technology used.