The Use and Implementation of Commercial Video Gaming in Rehabilitation: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Gamification is an emerging field of research with a focus on motivation that is presenting promising results in many contexts. Submitting gamification into a rehabilitation setting could potentially be beneficial for individuals undergoing rehabilitation, as a motivational component is key in this context. The global need for rehabilitation is great and there are several disabilities that should be targeted when looking for more efficient and beneficial treatments. The following research questions were answered in this study: 1) What is the current state of the field of research on the use and implementation of commercial video gaming in rehabilitation? 2) How have rehabilitative interventions utilising commercial video gaming been implemented in regards to the three most prevalent illnesses in this field – MS, CP, and stroke? The current state of the field of research on gamification in rehabilitation is inconclusive. A scoping study was therefore conduced to provide an overview and to summarise the current findings. The search strategy resulted in 631 relevant articles. Nine categories were developed after a content analysis was conducted, and each category covered a separate topic on the field of research on commercial video gaming in rehabilitation settings. This scoping review also investigated how rehabilitative interventions utilising commercial video gaming have been implemented in regards to the three most prevalent illnesses in this field, namely stroke, Cerebral Palsy, and Multiple Sclerosis. The findings suggest that while there are a range of validated measures in these studies, the majority of the articles are characterised by poor reporting of both their methods and their findings. There is a need for more consistent research in the future, and this study provides the ground work on which a framework can be built on.