Social games for older adults Why connection is important

Our social environment is important to us. When a satisfactory social network is missing, this has negative consequences for our cognitive and mental health. Especially for older adults, who generally have a smaller social network and fewer socializing opportunities, maintaining these contacts is of extra importance. Understanding what makes these contacts valuable will help design future social interventions. 

This is what Jeroen Janssen, PhD candiate at the department of Geriatrics, and colleagues have studied. Their goal is to design digital gaming tools to increase social connections in older adults. This project is in collaboration with Games for Health and led by Marcel Olde Rikkert, professor of Geriatrics. The article is published in the Journal of Gerontological Social Work. 

Using focus groups and interviews with 29 older adults, they identified the underlying value of social interactions and the necessary aspects of a gaming tool as an intervention. Participants indicated that social interactions are valuable if they come from a deeper, emotional connection. That value comes when the exchange is mutual, and you can open up to someone. Participants also thought this could best be achieved in person. However, besides these deeper connections, short conversations with people with whom you are less emotionally connected are a valuable addition. They might also be important for your social environment.

In the future, digital interventions should focus on accessible tools with intrinsic value for older adults. The communication between users in these tools should be on a sufficiently deep level to be emotionally engaging and be about more than the game itself. With this, digital gaming interventions can be a valuable addition to existing social interventions for older adults in combatting loneliness.

Publication

Jeroen H. M. Janssen, Evi M. Kremers, Minke S. Nieuwboer, Bas D. L. Châtel, Rense Corten, Marcel G. M. Olde Rikkert & G. M. E. E. (Geeske) Peeters (2023) Older Adults’ Views on Social Interactions and Online Socializing Games – A Qualitative Study, Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 66:2, 274-290, DOI: 10.1080/01634372.2022.2100548