2016/09/17 by Marcos Baez, Francisco Ibarra, Iman Khaghani Far +2
Computer Science · Health Professions · Medicine · Social Sciences · #Intervention (counseling) #Mobile Health and mHealth Applications #Physical Activity and Health #Physical activity #Social activity #Technology Use by Older Adults #Training (meteorology) #Virtual machine #Virtual training #Virtual world #cs.HC
paper · pdf · doi:10.1109/cts.2016.0098
arxiv created 2016/09/17 · openalex created_date 2016/09/30 · openalex publication_date 2016/10/01 · arxiv updated 2017/03/21 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
In this paper we describe the design and validation of a virtual fitness environment aiming at keeping older adults physically and socially active. We target particularly older adults who are socially more isolated, physically less active, and with less chances of training in a gym. The virtual fitness environment, namely Gymcentral, was designed to enable and motivate older adults to follow personalised exercises from home, with a (heterogeneous) group of remote friends and under the remote supervision of a Coach. We take the training activity as an opportunity to create social interactions, by complementing training features with social instruments. Finally, we report on the feasibility and effectiveness of the virtual environment, as well as its effects on the usage and social interactions, from an intervention study in Trento, Italy.