A User-centered Assessment of the Usability of Digital Game Devices for Upper Extremity Rehabilitation Therapy

Rehabilitation device is an essential tool in the process of rehabilitation therapy. Some therapists have tried to use the existing digital game devices in rehabilitation and found effective treatment outcomes in addition to enhancing the patient’s treatment motivation. However, these existing devices are originally designed for normal people with healthy physical and action conditions, not intended for rehabilitation therapy purposes or for people with physical disabilities. Further confirmation and evaluation is necessary to see if a digital game device can really meet the user’s usability needs in addition to its rehabilitation effectiveness. The objective of this study is to understand the types of the existing digital game devices which have been used in clinical treatments, and to evaluate their usability in rehabilitation therapy by means of the user-centered design concept, and to summarize a guideline for the improvement design of such devices. Following are some guidelines for the design improvement related to these devices: a) To increase the response time of the games, b) To increase difficulty levels of the games, c) To expand the sensor’s sensing scope, d) To be able to record movement data, e) To provide a Chinese version of the software interface of the games, f) To improve the ways to fix the controller on the user’s hand, g) To fit the controllers to the different hand dimensions of the patients, h) To provide better correspondence between the games and real-life movements, i) To provide controllers for body control training, j) To simplify the controller's operation