Facilitators and Challenges to Exergaming: Perspectives of Patients With Heart Failure.
Marysol C Cacciata, Anna Stromberg, Leonie Klompstra and 5 others
PMID 34091566WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with heart failure described Nintendo Wii exergaming at home as fun and convenient at first, but reported playing less over time because of boredom, repetitive games, and hand-eye coordination frustrations.
Key findings
01Home exergaming was initially motivating because participants found the games enjoyable and could play at convenient times.
02Boredom and frustration increased after 4 weeks of repeated play, and difficult hand-eye coordination games made some participants stop or play less.
03Participants asked for more game variety, and older participants were more frustrated by fast games requiring hand-eye coordination.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 13 exergaming-group patients were interviewed, so the themes may not represent all patients with heart failure. Participants were stable and excluded if they had mobility, balance, vision, speech, hearing, severe cognitive, or psychiatric problems, so the findings do not apply to patients with those limitations. Adherence was self-reported in a diary, not measured objectively. Most participants were male; only 38% were female, so women's perspectives may be underrepresented. The study was done at one US heart failure program, and the authors say it may not transfer to older adults over 85 years. The paper reports experiences, not outcomes from the parent trial, so it cannot show whether exergaming improved exercise capacity or well-being.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The paper is listed as supported by NIH extramural funds.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that Nintendo Wii exergaming is an effective treatment for heart failure. The paper reports interviews from 13 exergaming-group patients and self-reported declining play, not measured trial outcomes.