Social Health Games: a Gamified Intervention to Decrease Loneliness in Older Adults - a Randomized Controlled Trial
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 终止
- 入组人数
- 76
- 试验地点
- 1
- 主要终点
- Loneliness indirect
研究概览
简要总结
This study examines whether social platform games are effective in expanding the social network and decreasing the experienced levels of loneliness in older adults. The newly developed social games will be compared to non-personal games and not playing games.
详细描述
Rationale: loneliness and social isolation are an increasing problem in older adults with the aging of society. One option to foster social contact is through online games, which allow social interaction at a distance.
Objective: to investigate whether playing social online games has a beneficial effect on subjective loneliness and social network in older adults, compared with playing non-personal games and not playing games.
Study design: 3-arm randomized controlled trial.
Study population: A sample of 300 human volunteers aged 65 and over, who have access to a smartphone and an internet connection. The sample will be evenly distributed across the three groups.
Everybody else is allowed to use the gaming portal; they will form the pool of people that the participants can play with. This pool will be tracked within the gaming portal and posed some questions regarding their fellow players and their experiences loneliness. People aged under 16 can play but will not be tracked.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Treatment
- 盲法
- Single (Investigator)
盲法说明
The investigator analyzing data will be blind to the group coding and the personal information. Only anonymized data will be available to them.
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 65 Years 至 —（Older Adult）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 是
入选标准
- •Being 65 years or older
- •Have access to a smartphone with an internet connection
排除标准
- •Visual or cognitive impairments that limit independent use of a mobile phone
- •Not being fluent in the Dutch language
研究组 & 干预措施
Social games
Participants in the social games group will be given access to an app with games that are either adaptations of well-known games or newly developed games, all designed to be played with just text messages and photos. A game is essentially a chat group with the people you invited to play that specific game with. Participants can play with their own network of family and friends, as well as other people in the same condition.
干预措施: SamenSpelen.app (Other)
Non-personal games
Participants in the active control group will be given access to an app that offers 'non-personal games'. The portal will contain a subset of the social games, which have been adapted for non-personal play. This means that all aspects that make the games personal are removed and discouraged. The games that remain can still be played with others (family/friends and others in the same condition), but are designed not to elicit personal interaction. Participants are asked to play the games at least twice a week, but may play as often as they like.
干预措施: FijnSpelen.app (Other)
Passive control
The passive control group will be given access to an app that contains no games. Similar to the other groups, the portal is used to complete the questionnaires. Use of other games, (gaming) apps or social media platforms is allowed in this group, as in the other groups. The only restriction they will not have access to the games offered in the social games and active control groups.
结局指标
主要结局
Loneliness indirect
时间窗: Three months
The change in indirectly measured loneliness (De Jong Gierveld loneliness scale (range 1-11, higher indicating more loneliness)) over three months between the three groups
Loneliness direct
时间窗: Three months
The change in directly measured loneliness (Likert scale (range 1-5, higher indicating more loneliness) over three months between the three groups
次要结局
- Loneliness time series(Twelve months)
- Wellbeing(Twelve months)
- Social network composition(Twelve months)