Older Adults’ Motivation for Physical Activity Using Gamified Technology: An Eight-Week Experimental Study

While gamification strategy has been used in many areas such as marketing, education, health and wellness, only a few projects have investigated the relevance of longer study durations. There are limited number of long-term studies in the usage of gamification elements to facilitate motivation and engagement of users in a physical activity (PA) setting, especially for the older adult demographic. We conducted a synchronous, three-condition (gamified, non-gamified and control), eight-week, experimental study which randomized 30 participants in the 50+ age group. Results from quantitative analysis indicated that the addition of motivational affordances increased engagement of participants. Perceived competence, perceived autonomy was significant for the gamified group against the non gamified (traditional PA monitor – pedometer) and control group. Results from the quantitative analysis rejects the null hypothesis that there was no change between the groups as measured by motivation, enjoyment and engagement. Furthermore, the results also support our hypotheses that enjoyment and engagement was less in groups with pedometers (non-gamified PA monitors) than in the group with gamification elements. Results highlight the possibility of adaptive engagement where gamification elements can be customized to participants for the 50+ age group to foster engagement tailored to suit their current health conditions and prevalent barriers to participate in PA.