Use of digital game therapy among elderly persons undergoing dialytic treatment: cognitive aspects and depressive symptoms

Abstract

Objective :to evaluate the presence of depressive symptoms and cognitive disorders before and after an intervention program with a digital therapeutic game among elderly persons undergoing hemodialysis. Method: a quasi-experimental study was carried out with 26 elderly patients on hemodialysis. For the data collection, a questionnaire relating to sociodemographic and health conditions, the Geriatric Depression Scale - 15 items and Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination Revised were used. The intervention with the digital therapeutic game was performed over 5 sessions. Results: of the participants, 80.8% were male, with a mean age of 66.7 (± 5.8) years. The mean pre-intervention depressive symptom score was 3.9 (± 3.0) while post-intervention it was 2.8 (± 2.9), representing a statistically significant difference (p = 0.005). Regarding cognitive function, there was no statistically significant difference before and after the intervention. There was a statistically significant difference in the mean of the depressive symptom scores, which were lower after the intervention. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference in the mean of the cognitive assessments. Conclusion: intervention studies with patients undergoing hemodialysis treatment are still scarce and this study describes the positive results of an intervention with a digital therapeutic game, demonstrating improvement in the depressive symptoms of the participants.

The Impact of Virtual Reality (VR) Gaming and Casual/Social Gaming on the Quality of Life, Depression, and Dialysis Tolerance in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease: A Narrative Review

“…VR applications provide a secure platform to enhance the dialysis patient experience [ 28 ]. The feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of a novel exergame program to increase daily physical activity in diabetes patients on HD therapy are all enhanced by a non-immersive VR exercise program [ 29 ]. Elderly people receiving dialysis have reported fewer depression symptoms because of VR gaming [ 5 ].…”

“…It emphasizes how crucial cognitive development is for these people to carry out everyday tasks and make decisions. Significant gains in processing speed, sustained attention, alertness, visuospatial working memory, cognitive flexibility, immediate and delayed visual memory, and visual motor spatial coordination were reported in a review of the research on digital gaming for seniors [ 29 ].…”

Queixa De Memória E Risco De Depressão Em Idosos Assistidos Pela Estratégia Saúde Da Família

“…Diante do exposto, a literatura sugere a existência de relações entre o comprometimento da função cognitiva e os sintomas depressivos (13) .…”

Jogos e educação popular em saúde

“…Os jogos para saúde já são amplamente utilizados em diversas áreas e aspectos da saúde (Breuer;Bente, 2010), como os desenvolvidos para o tratamento clínico, atuando como estratégia terapêutica, como o "Jogar também faz bem!" (Bento et al, 2018), voltado para o auxílio no tratamento de sintomas depressivos e estimulação cognitiva e o "PhysioJoy" (Balista, 2013), utilizado para o tratamento de pacientes com déficit motor. Outros que contribuem para o aumento dos níveis de atividade física, como o caso de games de movimentos ou exergames, atuando no controle de peso e no combate ao sedentarismo e obesidade (Florêncio Júnior, Paiano;Costa, 2020;Silva et al, 2020).…”