ADE2: Towards a method for implementing serious games for older people's memory training

Abstract

Over the years, cognitive deterioration appears, which is even more evident as age increases; therefore, it requires attention and treatment. Among the older adults' primary needs are learning and entertainment. These needs promote older people, caregivers, and health personnel to seek technological solutions that help during their free time while training the executive functions in the home or gerontological centers. Hence, serious games can teach without neglecting entertainment and fun. Thus, it is necessary to develop techniques, methods, tools, or standards for creating serious games by following a process that considers all the needs and specific characteristics of older adults. Hence, this paper presents a method named ADE2 that aims to facilitate the development of serious games for older adults aligned to usability standards, human-computer interaction (HCI) techniques, and healthcare and software engineering experts' considerations. Evaluating the feasibility of the method has been presented the construction of a serious game and a case study that evaluates the game's use perception. The evaluation was developed from the point of view of the psychological area and the end-user (older adult).