Improving Psychosocial Well-Being of Older Adults Through Exergaming: The Moderation Effects of Intergenerational Communication and Age Cohorts

Objective: Exergaming is one way to foster social interaction among older adults and to improve their psychosocial well-being, which is a crucial component of healthy aging. This study examined how exergaming affects older adults' social anxiousness, sociability, and loneliness, and it further analyzed differences in the exergaming effects across different types of game play and between different aging cohorts. Method: A 2 (pre-test vs. post-test)x2 (young-old vs. old-old)x3 (play alone vs. play with elderly vs. play with youths) mixed quasi-experiment (N=89) was conducted in Singapore, and three-way MANOVAs were executed. Results: Results showed a significant three-way interaction effect among exergaming, play type, and age group on older adults' psychosocial well-being. There was a significant decline in social anxiousness and an increase in sociability for young-old participants playing with youths. The sociability improved significantly for old-old participants playing with their peers. There was also a significant decrease in loneliness after exergaming, but little differences were found across different play types or age groups. Discussion: The findings made contributions to aging research and shed light on our understanding about how to foster social interaction among older adults and, thus, promote healthy and active aging.