Influence of adaptive video gaming on quality of life and social relationships

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the field of adaptive video gaming has been growing rapidly. However, its acceptance as an integral service within the rehabilitation field has been slow to develop and no studies have examined the benefits of providing adaptive gaming services for individuals with disabilities. 110 participants with 6 months or more of adaptive gaming experience took part in a self-administered survey which comprised of questions assessing gaming habits, quality of life, and social relationships. Most participants either Agreed or Strongly Agreed that adaptive gaming has had a significant positive influence on their quality of life (90.9%), satisfaction with life (87.3%), and social relationships (67.2%). Two thirds of participants reported using their adaptive equipment for tasks other than gaming. Individuals who game more often, and with others, had significantly higher Social Relationship scores (p = 0.007; p = 0.044), and gaming frequency had a significant positive correlation with the overall influence of adaptive gaming (p = 0.002). There are possible quality of life and social benefits from participation in adaptive gaming, as well as translation to functional tasks. Furthermore, gaming more frequently, gaming with others, and using adaptive gaming equipment for other tasks seems to correlate with greater benefits from adaptive gaming.

KEYWORDS:

• computer access
• electronic aids to daily living
• outcomes
• recreation

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the following individuals and organizations for their help with and support of this study: Fred Davidson from Quadstick, Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute, Craig Hospital, and Bryce Johnson from Microsoft’s Inclusive Tech Lab. We would also like to thank everyone who participated in this study and the entire adaptive gaming community.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.