Seniors at 100 elderly care facilities throughout Germany will soon have videogames on their weekly schedule besides the normal singalongs and communal cooking. Specially developed for older adults, the games are said to improve memory, mobility and even life satisfaction.
A videogame console made by Hamburg software company Retrobrain R&D is set to be installed across Germany, following a successful test phase. A public health insurance company is paying for this device, called MemoreBox, to be installed in homes for the elderly, as well as for an evaluation of its impact.
On a recent morning at a municipal nursing home in Hanover, resident Ingelore Leppin, 65, tried out several of the console's games: A Sunday Ride, Nine-Pin Bowling and Table Tennis. Sitting in a wheelchair in front of a large screen showing a motorcycle rolling down a motorway, she leaned sideways to negotiate the curves during the "ride", all the while mindful of the destination and route announced at the start.
Similar to Xbox consoles, the MemoreBox is equipped with a Kinect camera, enabling gamers to control the game characters with their gestures and movements.
"It's a lot of fun and you've got to concentrate," remarks Leppin after "arriving" at her destination.
It's great, she says, that the games can be played by people with physical disabilities. Leppin has no reservations when it comes to electronic devices, owning both a smartphone and laptop computer. And she loves to play digital card games.
Seniors are a growing target group of the gaming industry. About 9.5 million people in Germany over 50 years of age now play videogames, according to the German gaming industry association. So-called health games for therapeutic purposes are also drawing increasing interest.
The MemoreBox project isn't the first of its kind in Europe, noted the German Geriatric Society's Dr Clemens Becker in an interview with dpa. In nursing homes in the Netherlands, for example, computer games by the Dutch company SilverFit are a common pastime.
While "you can't replace physiotherapy with them", Becker says. Studies have shown that nursing home residents perform therapeutic exercises twice as long when videogames are involved. This is very beneficial for their arms, he adds, but seniors are at risk of falling if they do the exercises standing up.
Seniors at the 100 selected nursing homes with play MemoreBox games three times a week. Researchers from Humboldt University of Berlin will regularly monitor any physical and metal changes as well as the seniors' life satisfaction.
The console's repertoire includes singing and dancing, and the videogames can also be played by two or more people simultaneously.
There was a sparkle in the eyes of nursing home resident Bernhard Pischel, 83, after swinging his shoulders and – as best he could – his hips during a videogame. "I used to dance a lot, and I play the harmonica and guitar," says Pischel, who can only get around slowly with the aid of a wheeled walker.
Many elderly care facilities are experimenting with digital technology in geriatric nursing. In Cologne, for instance, one retirement home has acquired a virtual reality headset to help dementia sufferers reconstruct their biography. One of the residents in the St Maternus home uses it to virtually visit her Bavarian birthplace.
Smart speakers are another helpful device, since they can remind seniors of doctors' appointments or to take their medications.
The MemoreBox hit the market in 2016, and Retrobrain key account manager Jens Brandis now sees possible uses of the console in hospital geriatric wards, psychiatry and sheltered workshops. The videogames generate the same instinct to play that everyone has, and they're not about winning, he says.
"What's nice is that you can't do anything wrong – and that you get positive feedback." – dpa
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 20% OFF The Star Digital Access
Cancel anytime. Ad-free. Unlimited access with perks.
