Cycling through 360° Virtual Reality Tourism for Senior Citizens: Empirical Analysis of an Assistive Technology.

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in using virtual reality (VR) to (re)create different scenarios and environments with interactive and immersive experiences. Although VR has been popular in the tourism sector to reconfigure tourists' relationships with places and overcome mobility restrictions, its usage in senior cyclotourism has been understudied. VR is suggested to positively impact tourism promotion, cycling simulation, and active and healthy ageing due to physical and mental rehabilitation. The purpose of this study is to assess the senior citizens' perceived experience and attitudes toward a designed 360° VR cyclotouristic experiment, using a head-mounted display (HMD) setting within a laboratory context. A total of 76 participants aged between 50 and 97 years old were involved in convergent parallel mixed-method research, and data were collected using a questionnaire based on the technology acceptance model, as well as the researchers' field notes. Findings suggest that 360° VR with HMD can be an effective assistive technology to foster senior cyclotourism by promoting tourism sites, simulating the cycling pedaling effect, and improving senior citizens' general wellbeing and independence with physical and mental rehabilitation.

Tecendo significados: uma análise da relação do idoso com o equipamento de auxílio / Weaving meanings: an analysis of the relationship of elderely to walkingaid

Os equipamentos de auxílio, que fazem parte da cultura material do idoso, trazem não só o amparo para a mobilidade, mas também ativam processos de subjetivação, pois evocam outras aspirações ligadas à sociedade, à cultura, aos valores simbólicos. Nesse sentido, o objetivo desta investigação foi analisar os discursos de idosos sobre seus respectivos equipamentos de auxílio. O método empregado foi um estudo de caso, valendo-se de dezesseis entrevistas semiestruturadas e aplicadas a idosos do Instituto Patronato, em Aveiro, Portugal. Como forma de exame, as transcrições foram submetidas a uma análise de conteúdo. Um dos principais resultados desta investigação foi constatar que estes produtos são percebidos como meros produtos de apoios, desprovidos de qualquer conexão simbólica. Por fim, a contribuição da pesquisa foi reconhecer que esta categoria de produto carrega um conjunto de estigmas, sobretudo por conta da supervalorização da função prática em detrimento da função simbólica.(AU)

Walking aids, present in the senior's material culture brings not only mobility support, but in addition, these objects awake the process of subjectivation, evoking aspirations linked to society, culture, symbolic values. Thereby, the objective of this investigation was to analyze the discourses of seniors about their relationship with walking aids. The method employed was a case study, using dezesseis semi-structured and applied interviews with elderly people from the Patronato Institute in Aveiro, Portugal. As a form of examination, the transcripts were subjected to content analysis. One of the main results of this investigation was to verify that these products are perceived as mere supports, devoid of any symbolic connection. Finally, the research's contribution was to recognize that these objectives carry a set of stigmas, mainly due to the overvaluation of the practical function to the detriment of the symbolic function.(AU)