Elementos moduladores de la efectividad de intervenciones virtuales sobre envejecimiento activo

Abstract

Virtual tools recently have broken into the field of psychogerontology as support for the implementation of intervention programs aimed at optimizing active aging variables. Because of this recent emergence, there is little reliable data about its real effectiveness and effectiveness. While some studies emphasize the comparable effectiveness of face-to-face and virtual interventions, other studies find important limitations in the latter. The aim of this study was to analyze different interventions in virtual modality on active aging, with special emphasis on identifying those elements of empirically based interventions (EBI) that could influence their effectiveness. We review, select and encode 14 intervention studies in virtual modality that met the following criteria: (i) they had been published from 2005 to 2015; (ii) focus on 6 dimensions of quality of life; and, (iii) include the data necessary to calculate the effect size. The results show poor compliance of IBE indicators by interventions in virtual modality. This, coupled with certain variables related to the sample in the studies and design, could justify the ineffectiveness that some research associate with such interventions. In view of these results, the contributions and future research are discussed. In conclusion, we advocate the need to increase the requirement of compliance with EBI indicators in active aging interventions. C. Díaz-Prieto received funding through a fellowship for the training of professors (FPU-MECD ref. 12/04517) for the four-year period 2013-2017.