Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology of Aging
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1501111

Ageing with board games: fostering well-being in the older population

Provisionally accepted
Veronica Guardabassi Veronica Guardabassi *Evelyn Manoni Evelyn Manoni Marta Di Massimo Marta Di Massimo Elisa Cirilli Elisa Cirilli Alessandro Maranesi Alessandro Maranesi Paola Nicolini Paola Nicolini
  • Department of Humanities, University of Macerata, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The increase in the average age of the population has resulted in a greater focus on interventions designed to facilitate successful Ageing. Notwithstanding its potential, the strategy of the board game remains relatively underexplored. This study aims to ascertain its role in fostering older people's well-being. Specifically, it was hypothesized that the level of well-being associated with the gaming experience is greater than overall well-being, particularly when the level of difficulty is low. From an initial number of 164 participants, a total of 132 older people made up the final sample (Mage =74.05; SD = 5.62). They were divided into groups of four or five individuals and engaged in a gaming session of varying levels of difficulty: low (N = 44), medium (N = 49) and high (N = 36). Prior to each game session, participants completed a questionnaire regarding their general well-being. After the game session, they filled out a similar questionnaire regarding their well-being while gaming.The results showed that the level of well-being experienced while playing was significantly higher than that observed in daily life, F (1, 131) = 14.604, p = .000, ηp 2 =.100, particularly with board games with a low or medium level of difficulty, F (2, 126) = 10.982, p = .001, ηp 2 = .148. Future studies and possible interventions for people in the third and fourth ages will be discussed.

    Keywords: older people, active ageing, positive ageing, Board games, Well-being

    Received: 24 Sep 2024; Accepted: 28 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Guardabassi, Manoni, Di Massimo, Cirilli, Maranesi and Nicolini. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Veronica Guardabassi, Department of Humanities, University of Macerata, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.