Brand New Sense: A Study on the Development and Impact of a Digital Exercise Tool, 2022-2023

Kapsali, Maria (2024). Brand New Sense: A Study on the Development and Impact of a Digital Exercise Tool, 2022-2023. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-856697

A Brand New Sense (BraNeS) aims to create a digital tool that makes movement fun and aids creative expression and intergenerational exchange within the user's home setting and/or community environments. Just like anyone else, when they exercise, old people experience important health benefits. They are able to move better, accomplish daily and routine tasks easier and experience a positive shift in their mood. However, a major challenge is how to get people to become active in a way that they enjoy. Research has shown that a combination of movement and music is enjoyable, and people are more likely to adhere to exercise programmes that involve music. Studies have also shown that the social dimension of physical activity is an important factor of enjoyment. BraNeS explores the use of movement sonification as a form of physical activity that combines creative expression and social interaction. Movement sonification is the synchronous production of sound and movement through a digital device. It is an emerging practice which, on the on hand, is spreading within youth and music subcultures through new products aimed at primarily young audiences. It is also being tested within health and clinical settings for the treatment of health conditions and/or the improvement of physical performance. Through developing an existing prototype, BraNeS capitalises on this trend, in order to develop an intuitive, affordable and accessible tool that can be used in the user's living environment and increase mobility, aid creative expression and encourage intergenerational social interaction.

Data description (abstract)

A Brand New Sense (BraNeS) aimed to create a digital tool that made movement fun and aided creative expression and intergenerational exchange within the user's home setting and/or community environments. Just like anyone else, when they exercised, old people experienced important health benefits. They were able to move better, accomplish daily and routine tasks easier, and experience a positive shift in their mood. However, a major challenge was how to get people to become active in a way that they enjoyed. Research had shown that a combination of movement and music was enjoyable, and people were more likely to adhere to exercise programmes that involved music. Studies had also shown that the social dimension of physical activity was an important factor of enjoyment. BraNeS explored the use of movement sonification as a form of physical activity that combined creative expression and social interaction. The record includes: a folder with the activities that were delivered as part of the Brand New Sense project; a file with observations from individual sessions with research participants; an evaluation Questionnaire that was circulated in the four care homes that tested the technology; and a video that was created out of the Now and Then package of the project. Data collected from the evaluation Questionnaire could not be archived.

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