Usability Assessment in Parkinson’s Disease: the Case Study of the FarmExergame

Cognitive and motor rehabilitation through exergaming could democratize access to continuity of care, especially when delivered via low-cost and portable systems. However, since individuals with cognitive and/or motor impairments stand to benefit most from these systems, establishing their usability for such populations is both critical and challenging. This paper presents the FarmExergame, a low-cost and lightweight solution for hand dexterity rehabilitation. In particular, the findings from a preliminary two-weeks protocol designed to evaluate several aspects of its usability are discussed. The FarmExergame gamifies tasks commonly used in Parkinson’s disease assessment while incorporating cognitive stimulation elements such as challenges, rewards, and both auditory and visual feedback. Among a cohort of 25 participants (9 with Parkinson’s, 4 elderly controls, and 12 young controls), the exergame achieved an overall System Usability Score of 80.2, indicating high usability. The assessment emphasized the role of learnability and memorability as attributes of an exergaming system for people with Parkinson’s disease and highlighted the value of objective performance measures over subjective questionnaires.