A Social Exergame Intervention to Promote Physical Activity, Social Support, and Well-Being in Family Caregivers

Background and Objectives Family caregivers often experience a high level of stress, social isolation, a sedentary lifestyle, and poor mental and physical health. An exergame intervention was developed to promote physical activity and well-being in family caregivers and to test social support as a mechanism for behavior change. Research Design and Methods The current study was a randomized pilot trial (N = 76) to compare the effectiveness of Go&Grow (social vs nonsocial exergame) to promote well-being through increased social support and physical activity for family caregivers over a 6-week intervention. Results The treatment group increased significantly more than the control group in well-being (management of distress) and social support (satisfaction with contact quality). Social support served as a mechanism (mediator and moderator): The treatment group increased more than the control group in satisfaction with social contact quality, which led to more positive affect and less loneliness. Moreover, those in the treatment group who increased more in overall social support and knowing others' experiences increased their steps more than those with less support, whereas the change in steps for the control group was not related to a support level. Those in the treatment group who used more social features of the app had a greater increase in steps compared with those who used it less. Discussion and Implications Social support in technology interventions is a promising direction to promote caregivers' well-being and physical activity. Social support served as a mechanism of behavior change that can inform more engaging, sustainable, portable, and scalable interventions in the future for sedentary and socially isolated family caregivers. Clinical Trial Registration Number: NCT05032872

Automated summary

This study developed an exergame intervention to promote physical activity and well-being in family caregivers. The randomized pilot trial compared the effectiveness of a social exergame with a nonsocial exergame in increasing well-being and social support for caregivers. Results showed that social support served as a mechanism for behavior change, leading to more positive affect and less loneliness in the treatment group.