• Oskar Stamm, Rebecca Dahms, and Ursula Müller-Werdan.
• Geriatrics Research Group - Age and Technology Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Reinickendorfer Strasse 61, 13347, Berlin, Germany. oskar.stamm@charite.de.
• J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2020 Sep 29; 17 (1): 129.

BackgroundToday immersive environments such as Virtual Reality (VR) offer new opportunities for serious gaming in exercise therapy and psychoeducation. Chronic back pain (CBP) patients could benefit from exergames in VR. The requirements in older CBP patients for a VR pain therapy have not yet been determined in studies. The aim of the study was to perform a requirements analysis for the user group of geriatric patients with CBP for a VR exergame. The objective was to find out the expectations, desires, preferences and barriers in order to collect them as requirements for this vulnerable group and to determine frameworks of therapy by physiotherapists and psychotherapists.MethodsWe conducted a requirements analysis through semi-structured interviews with 10 elderly participants with CBP. Furthermore, two focus groups were conducted with three physiotherapists and two psychotherapists to determine frameworks of therapy programs for the target group. The qualitative data were transcribed and examined through a structuring content analysis. Subsequently, the results of the analysis were prioritized by all participants of the study.ResultsThe results of the requirements analysis indicate mandatory requirements for the overall system, hardware, software and gamification elements. The key requirements were target-group-specific applications of the VR exergame through e.g. individual briefing, user-friendly handling, inclusion of movement limitations, presentation of everyday scenarios in combination with biofeedback, age-appropriate feedback through praise and awards and a maximum exercise duration of 30 min and 15 min of relaxation.ConclusionIt should be possible to use the determined requirements productively to create user-friendly VR exergames that motivate elderly chronic back pain patients to perform exercises regularly.Trial RegistrationThe study is registered in the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS-ID: DRKS00015294 12.10.2018).

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