Mental health in older people

Health declines with age involving biological, social, and psychological changes

Mental health is a state of individual well-being beyond absence of disorder that is integral to one’s health and promotes stress coping, goal fulfillment, learning and working well, as well as community engagement

Protective factors are meaningful social relations and a sense of belonging

(Mental) health of older people is a global concern

Digital technology

Solution:

• is cost-effective
• can address healthcare needs of a wide population because
• it builds on existent hardware and software

But also:

• assumes agency, which is problematic in older people
• poorly designed without community input adds to negative health

Behavior and internal motivation

Individual behavior is informed by value motivational goals

Contrary to old age stereotypes, older people can and are willing to learn something new but they need to know why that is important (resonance with internal motivation)

Game-based education for older people

The need for internal motivation and social orientation are addressed in educational game-based approaches by design

Psycho-education through digital games

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) sees cognitive and emotional biases as causes to pathology

Group CBT (CBGT) views interactions between group members as the mechanisms of treatment

CBGT uses psycho-education to redefine dissatisfaction and lack of agency concerning mental health into internal motivational goal-setting

How can the digital game playing medium be leveraged to deliver CBGT psycho-education interventions in combating pathology in communities of older people?

Possible research questions

1. What games do older people like to play?

2. Do older people prefer certain games depending on value motivational goal preferences?

3. What do older people need for playing games as part of a community?

4. Can game playing contribute to combating mental healthcare stigmatization?

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