Background/Purpose Individuals with visual impairments (VI) tend to spend less time in physical activity than their peers without VI. There is a current trend towards using technology to increase physical activity in youth. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of three exergames, (DDR, EyeToy Kinetic and Wii) in allowing youth with visual impairments to achieve time in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA).
Method Youth (n = 10) with VI ranged from ages 10 to 16 years old. Youth with VI were randomly assigned one of the 3 games for 10 minutes a night, on 3 consecutive nights. The interactive video games were DDR Extreme 2, EyeToy Kinetic, and Wii Boxing. Participants wore a heart rate (HR) monitor while participating in the study. The HR monitors were programmed to sample at 15 second intervals. The Karvonen method was used to determine maximal HR, HR reserve (HRR), and target HR. The threshold values for MVPA were determined to be 60% of HRR and 80% of HRR.
Analysis/Results Multiple linear regressions with robust standard errors, to account for the lack of independence of game play, were employed. Results showed that time spent in MVPA for Kinetic (M = 256.88s) was significantly greater than time spent in MVPA for DDR (M = 40s), p = 0.025.
Conclusions The study found that with proper modifications, exergames such as Kinetic, Wii boxing, and DDR are capable of allowing youth with VI achieve MVPA.