Effects of a 12-Week Semi-Immersive Virtual Reality-Based Exercise Program on the Quality of Life of Older Adults Across Different Age Groups: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Aging may affect quality of life (QOL). This study aimed to evaluate the impact of semi-immersive VR-based exercise on the QOL of young-old and middle-old adults. This study was a randomized controlled trial involving older adults aged 65–85 years. Methods: Two age groups were each randomly assigned...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inApplied sciences Vol. 15; no. 2; p. 902
Main Authors Wang, Li-Ting, Wang, Yu-Wen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.01.2025
Subjects
Age groups
age range
Balance
Clinical trials
Comparative analysis
Exercise
Exercise therapy
Intervention
Mental health
older adults
Older people
Participation
Physical fitness
Quality of life
Questionnaires
sports intervention
Variance analysis
Virtual reality
virtual reality-based fitness
Taiwan
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Summary:Aging may affect quality of life (QOL). This study aimed to evaluate the impact of semi-immersive VR-based exercise on the QOL of young-old and middle-old adults. This study was a randomized controlled trial involving older adults aged 65–85 years. Methods: Two age groups were each randomly assigned to experimental (EG) and control (CG) groups. The EG underwent a 75–90 min semi-immersive VR-based exercise intervention twice a week for 12 weeks, whereas the CG continued with their usual daily activities. Each participant’s psychological QOL was assessed using the World Health Organization’s QOL Instrument-Older Adults Module (WHOQOL-OLD). Results: Compared with their CG counterparts, the EG older adults exhibited significantly higher QOL scores in four WHOQOL-OLD dimensions (i.e., sensory abilities, autonomy, social participation/isolation, and death and dying) and had a superior overall QOL. Furthermore, we observed significant decreases in the autonomy and overall QOL dimensions in CG older adults. On comparing the young-old and middle-old adults, a significant decrease in the past, present, and future activity QOL dimension was exclusively found in CG young-old adults. Conclusions: Semi-immersive VR-based exercise is a promising digital tool for supporting the psychological QOL of older adults across different age groups. This suggests that older persons, particularly young-old adults, should be encouraged to maintain physical activity habits in their daily lives in order to improve their QOL.
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ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app15020902