Young people and old person looking at a laptop. Intergenerational family on computer.Shutterstock 1399045121
One of the biggest issues facing healthcare today is healthy ageing. Increasing physical activity, especially in a social environment, is one of the best ways to improve quality of life, health and vitality. Risk of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and stroke, for example, is 20-35% lower in people who have a physically active lifestyle.
Unfortunately, The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated this issue. Research led by GOALD’s of the found that .
This study was funded by the Chief Scientist Office and is aligned to Stirling’s project (Keep Active Physically & Socially). The study also highlighted that safe social contact through physical activity may be an effective way to reduce loneliness, improve wellbeing and increase social support.
The GOALD project specifically aimed to identify how intergenerational social contact, assistive technologies, digital solutions and sport based reminiscence can improve the health and well-being of older people.

Digital technologies

  • Augmented Reality – This allows the user to move through a real life physical landscape, like a heritage site or football stadium and using a smart phone or headset they can see projected images onto certain ‘triggers.’
  • Immersive Reality – Whereas augmented reality is mainly transparent, VR is fully immersive, allowing you to see a completely different landscape or place than the one you are currently in.
Getty images 615629546 Senior woman using VR headset

Virtual reality landscapes

GOALD worked across multiple disciplines with partners from the the ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓÆµâ€™s Faculty of Health and Schools of Art, Design and Architecture and Society and Culture to create scans of our virtual reality landscapes. We chose spaces with a rich heritage, which our older participants had strong connections to but found difficult to access.
Senior old man playing video gamesGetty 935695964

Contact us

If you would like to get in touch with our researchers about the GOALD project please contact: