Effectiveness and Usability of a Novel Kinect-Based Tailored Interactive Fall Intervention System for Fall Prevention in Older People: A Preliminary Study

Falls are prevalent among older people and can lead to serious health problems. We newly developed a novel Kinect-based tailored interactive fall intervention system, which seamlessly integrates multifactorial fall risk assessment and tailored intervention programs to prevent falls in older people. This preliminary study aimed to examine the effectiveness and usability of this developed system for fall prevention in older people. Thirty community-dwelling older women participated in this experiment; they were allocated to an intervention group (IG) or a control group (CG) for a quasi-randomized trial (15 people each). Participants in IG followed an 8-week tailored intervention (40 min/session × 2 sessions/week × 8 weeks) using the Kinect-based interactive fall intervention system, while participants in CG maintained their habitual activities. Various outcome measures were evaluated at baseline (Week 0), interim (Week 4), and post-intervention (Week 8). Experimental results showed that IG led to significant improvements in TUG-Timed Up and Go (p = 0.010), BBS-Berg Balance Scale (p = 0.011), and Montreal Cognitive Assessment-MoCA (p = 0.022) between baseline and post-intervention. In comparison to the baseline, TUG and BBS were even significantly improved at interim (p = 0.004 and 0.047, respectively). There were no significant changes in static balance-related performance outcomes and the Short Falls Efficacy Scale-SFES after the intervention. Whereas in CG, most performance measures did not show significant changes during the 8-week period, TUG completion time became significantly longer at post-intervention in comparison to interim (p = 0.028) and fear of falling was also significantly higher at post-intervention than baseline (p = 0.021). These findings suggest that the Kinect-based 8-week tailored interactive fall interventions effectively improved older people's physical and cognitive abilities. Regarding the usability of the developed system, the average System Usability Scale (SUS) score was 83.5 out of 100, indicating excellent system usability. The overall mean Computer Literacy Scale (CLS) score was 2.5 out of 26, showing that older participants in this study had very limited experience with computers. No significant correlation between SUS and CLS scores demonstrated that newly developed Kinect-based tailored interactive fall intervention system was easy to use for older people, regardless of their computer experience. This novel system should help health professionals and older people proactively manage the risk of falls.