Mobile walking game and group-walking program to enhance going out for older adults

Japan is aging rapidly, so "tojikomori" has become an important issue. In the field of gerontology, "tojikomori" means shutting oneself in a room or house. Tojikomori is caused not only by physical factors but also by social and psychological ones. Once an elderly person becomes tojikomori, it takes a lot of time and energy to recover. It is important to take primary preventive measures, especially for currently active older adults because a little help has a great benefit. A previous study identified two key factors of tojikomori in an urban area: no exercise habits and no participation in community activities. Therefore, we developed a walking game to enhance physically healthy behavior and motivate the elderly to explore a city and lead to the discovery of favorite spots they want to visit again. In addition, we designed a group-walking program utilizing the walking game aimed for face-to-face communication with other community-dwelling elderly people. Our results show that our approach was well received, enjoyable, and effective for older adults in a real-world situation.