MEMORIDE: An Exergame Combined with Working Memory Training to Motivate Elderly with Mild Cognitive Impairment to Actively Participate in Rehabilitation

Chronic diseases such as mild cognitive impairment have severely affected the quality of life of the elderly worldwide, both physically and psychologically. Working memory training is an intervention method that has been widely used in clinical treatment. However, memory decline, decreased physical function and psychological resistance to the training prevent seniors from gaining an ideal training outcome. Researchers use gamification methods to help the therapists improve the effect of rehabilitation training to solve the problem. This research is based on working memory training in cognitive rehabilitation and developed an exergame for seniors with mild cognitive impairment called MEMORIDE. Using the method of participatory design (PD), researchers design the Chinese classical garden's training scene that caters to the hobbies of the elderly. Moreover, a positive feedback mechanism was used to encourage the elderly to participate actively. This study recruited 10 participants with mild cognitive impairment over 65 years old (MMSE scores between 21 and 26) who used MEMORIDE for 30-min rehabilitation training. The post-experiment interview showed that most participants had a pleasant experience and willing to continue trying this training method. The research results verified the acceptance of gamified rehabilitation training for seniors. The study proves that gamification can improve training compliance and relieve training pressure in elderly rehabilitation. In further research, longer-term experiments will be carried out to verify this training method's cognitive function enhancement effect.