%0 Journal Article
%@ 2291-9279
%I JMIR Publications
%V 8
%N 3
%P e17565
%T User Experience of Interactive Technologies for People With Dementia: Comparative Observational Study
%A Andrade  Ferreira,Luis Duarte
%A Ferreira,Henrique
%A Cavaco,Sofia
%A Cameirão,Mónica
%A i Badia,Sergi Bermúdez
%+ NOVA LINCS, Dep de Informática, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campus de Caparica, Caparica, Lisboa, 2829-516, Portugal, 351 21 294 8300, luis.d.ferreira@m-iti.org
%K dementia
%K technology
%K interaction
%K psychomotor performance
%K equipment safety
%K costs and cost analysis
%K user-computer interface
%D 2020
%7 5.8.2020
%9 Original Paper
%J JMIR Serious Games
%G English
%X Background: Serious games (SGs) are used as complementary approaches to stimulate patients with dementia. However, many of the SGs use out-of-the-shelf technologies that may not always be suitable for such populations, as they can lead to negative behaviors, such as anxiety, fatigue, and even cybersickness. Objective: This study aims to evaluate how patients with dementia interact and accept 5 out-of-the-shelf technologies while completing 10 virtual reality tasks. Methods: A total of 12 participants diagnosed with dementia (mean age 75.08 [SD 8.07] years, mean Mini-Mental State Examination score 17.33 [SD 5.79], and mean schooling 5.55 [SD 3.30]) at a health care center in Portugal were invited to participate in this study. A within-subject experimental design was used to allow all participants to interact with all technologies, such as HTC VIVE, head-mounted display (HMD), tablet, mouse, augmented reality (AR), leap motion (LM), and a combination of HMD with LM. Participants’ performance was quantified through behavioral and verbal responses, which were captured through video recordings and written notes. Results: The findings of this study revealed that the user experience using technology was dependent on the patient profile; the patients had a better user experience when they use technologies with direct interaction configuration as opposed to indirect interaction configuration in terms of assistance required (P=.01) and comprehension (P=.01); the participants did not trigger any emotional responses when using any of the technologies; the participants’ performance was task-dependent; the most cost-effective technology was the mouse, whereas the least cost-effective was AR; and all the technologies, except for one (HMD with LM), were not exposed to external hazards. Conclusions: Most participants were able to perform tasks using out-of-the-shelf technologies. However, there is no perfect technology, as they are not explicitly designed to address the needs and skills of people with dementia. Here, we propose a set of guidelines that aim to help health professionals and engineers maximize user experience when using such technologies for the population with dementia. 
%M 32755894
%R 10.2196/17565
%U http://games.jmir.org/2020/3/e17565/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/17565
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32755894