Enjoyment levels of youth with visual impairments playing different exergames

One possible method to engage youth with visual impairments in physical activity may be exergaming. The purpose of this study was to measure differences in the enjoyment levels of youths with visual impairments playing three commercially available exergames. Participants (n 5 12) ages 9 to 16 years old with a visual impairment were randomly assigned one of three games on three separate nights and played each game for 10 minutes. Games played were Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2 (DDR), EyeToy Kinetic, and Wii Boxing. After each game participants filled out the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale. The scores were summed for final analysis with a highest attainable score of 144. A Friedman's ANOVA was used to analyze the data. Players of the three different games showed no significant difference in their enjoyment between games. The consistently high mean scores attained by all three of the exergames (DDR 5 129 [20.9], EyeToy 5 127 [23.4], Wii 5 137.67 [9.4]) indicate that the participants enjoyed playing these games. This result suggests that youth with visual impairments can enjoy being physically active through use of the exergames.