Developing a Digital Game for Stroke Patients’ Upper Extremity Rehabilitation – Design, Usability and Effectiveness Assessment

The purpose of this study was to develop a digital game system for rehabilitation and to assess their feasibility, usability and effectiveness. A questionnaire was designed to evaluate the usability and feasibility associated with using this game. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: 1) the upper extremity rehabilitation gardening game (UERG game) is special designed for domestic stroke patients. 2) This UERG game uses Kinect's skeletal tracking features and motion sensor to interaction with patients. 3) design features are as following: game contents include three difficult levels according to different upper limb motor function recovery stages; to record user's motor performance; to provide feedback information (for example: to record the completed the task time and to detect whether the user has compensatory action, etc.). 4) A total of 10 patients to assess this set of games. The results showed that 90% of patients reported that using UERG game in treatment increased their treatment motivation.; 70% of them reported that this games is very interactive; 80% patients considered this game is conducive to recovery their upper extremity functions; 80% patients considered the feedback information provided help them to understand their performance in each session after training; 60% patients indicated the game interfaces were easy to operate and learning; 90% of patients reported that this game is enjoyment and satisfied with this game for rehabilitation. Overall, the UERG game is feasibility to use in rehabilitation.