The prevalence of regular video game use among populations of all ages, genders, geographic locations, and life experiences has grown exponentially in recent years (Entertainment Software Association, 2021). Gaming provides many players with an opportunity to engage in an immersive, engaging, and enjoyable activity that has the power to positively impact many facets of quality of life and well-being (Jones, 2021; Britnell & Goldberg, 2002). Despite monumental strides made in the gaming industry to ensure gaming controllers and software settings are accessible for players with disabilities, many players still face barriers to video game access following the onset of injury, illness, or an existing condition.
The relationship between the occupational therapy profession and the prevalence of video game technologies is multifaceted. First, occupational therapists are tasked with adapting tasks or environments to facilitate access and independence in activities that a particular client finds meaningful. Additionally, occupational therapists ground the nature of their work in creating evaluation methods and intervention approaches that leverage a client’s established meaningful occupations in producing functional outcomes through therapeutic exercise and activity (AJOT, 2020). Given the large and growing population of clients who consider gaming a meaningful occupation, this project asserts that occupational therapists have the following responsibilities related to adequately serving the needs of their current and future clients: 1. Acquiring knowledge needed to successfully adapt gaming hardware and gameplay tasks through assistive technologies to facilitate access and independence in gameplay for leisure or social participation purposes 2. Acquiring knowledge needed to successfully embed game-based activities within occupational therapy interventions to ensure treatment sessions remain occupation based, meaningful, and engaging to applicable client populations.
Despite these factors, gaming knowledge and adoption among occupational therapists remains relatively low due to a variety of factors discussed in further detail throughout this paper (Hills et al., 2016; Jones, 2021; Levac et al., 2017; Thomson et al., 2016).
This project assessed the current body of evidence-based literature related to the therapeutic implications of gaming, the nature of current barriers contributing to low technology adoption rates, and established approaches deemed effective in mitigating these barriers in detail. This large body of data and evidence was used to create the Gaming and Occupational therapy Adoption Training Program (G.O.A.T.). This program leverages a multidimensional approach in providing a comprehensive intervention program for occupational therapists that ultimately seeks to increase the adoption of gaming technologies within the occupational therapy profession.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/44416 |
| Date | 11 May 2022 |
| Creators | Jones, Kaitlyn S. |
| Contributors | Stone Kelly, Lauren |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | Attribution 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
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