Zhu Di, Al Mahmud Abdullah, Liu Wei
Centre for Design Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
School of Design, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
JMIR Hum Factors. 2025 Jun 18;12:e70177. doi: 10.2196/70177.
As the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among older adults increases, so does the need to enhance social participation and cognitive functions through innovative interventions. Digital storytelling in group settings holds potential not only to foster social connections but also to integrate with traditional in-person activities, leveraging both for greater impact.
This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of the Huiyou app in supporting group-based storytelling activities, aiming to enhance social participation for people with MCI. We focused on the app's ability to improve storytelling goal attainment, social connectedness, self-efficacy, and subjective happiness, comparing these outcomes between the experimental and control groups.
We randomly assigned 20 participants with MCI to either an intervention group or a control group, engaging them in the use of the Huiyou digital storytelling app over 4 weekly sessions of 45 minutes each. We measured outcomes through the Assessment of Life Habits questionnaire (77 items), particularly outdoor activities and interpersonal relationships; the Social Connectedness Scale-Revised (20 items); the General Self-Efficacy Scale (10 items), focusing on coping self-efficacy; and the Subjective Well-Being Scale (SWBS; 20 items), with a special emphasis on self-acceptance.
The sample had an average age of 69.7 (SD 3.21) years, with no significant (P=.23) baseline differences between groups in age, sex, or educational background. Cognitive function, assessed via the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Chinese questionnaire, also showed no significant differences at baseline (P=.20). Specifically, significant enhancements in the outdoor activity (mean value difference 0.171, SD 0.353; Cohen d=1.046; P=.03) and interpersonal adaptation experience subscales of the SWBS (mean value difference 0.167, SD 0.247; Cohen d=1.290; P=.01) were noted. Notably, storytelling performance improved markedly, evidenced by increases in story sharing duration and complexity. Although overall improvements in Assessment of Life Habits (P=.14), Social Connectedness Scale-Revised (P=.59), and Subjective Well-Being Scale (P=.26) scores were not statistically significant, the large effect sizes observed suggest potential benefits of the Huiyou app that might be obscured by the study's small sample size.
This study indicates that the Huiyou mobile storytelling app is feasible to enhance social participation and specific aspects of social functioning such as interpersonal adaptation for people with MCI. Despite the lack of significant changes in overall scores for key scales, observed effect sizes highlight a positive trend that merits further investigation. These results advocate for the continuation of digital intervention development to improve quality of life and social integration for individuals with MCI.
随着老年人中轻度认知障碍（MCI）患病率的上升，通过创新干预措施来增强社会参与度和认知功能的需求也日益增加。在群体环境中进行数字故事讲述不仅有可能促进社会联系，还能与传统的面对面活动相结合，以产生更大的影响。
本研究旨在评估“惠友”应用程序支持基于群体的故事讲述活动的可行性，旨在增强MCI患者的社会参与度。我们重点关注该应用程序在实现故事讲述目标、社会联系、自我效能感和主观幸福感方面的能力，并比较实验组和对照组之间的这些结果。
我们将20名MCI患者随机分为干预组或对照组，让他们在为期4周、每周45分钟的时间里使用“惠友”数字故事讲述应用程序。我们通过生活习惯评估问卷（77项）来测量结果，特别是户外活动和人际关系；修订后的社会联系量表（20项）；一般自我效能量表（10项），重点关注应对自我效能感；以及主观幸福感量表（SWBS；20项），特别强调自我接纳。
样本的平均年龄为69.7（标准差3.21）岁，两组在年龄、性别或教育背景方面的基线差异不显著（P = 0.23）。通过蒙特利尔认知评估中文版问卷评估的认知功能在基线时也没有显著差异（P = 0.20）。具体而言，SWBS的户外活动（均值差异0.171，标准差0.353；Cohen d = 1.046；P = 0.03）和人际适应体验子量表有显著增强（均值差异0.167，标准差0.247；Cohen d = 1.290；P = 0.01）。值得注意的是，故事讲述表现有显著改善，故事分享时长和复杂性的增加证明了这一点。虽然生活习惯评估（P = 0.14）、修订后的社会联系量表（P = 0.59）和主观幸福感量表（P = 0.26）得分的总体改善在统计学上不显著，但观察到的大效应量表明“惠友”应用程序可能存在的益处，只是可能被该研究的小样本量所掩盖。
本研究表明，“惠友”移动故事讲述应用程序对于增强MCI患者的社会参与度以及社会功能的特定方面（如人际适应）是可行的。尽管关键量表的总体得分缺乏显著变化，但观察到的效应量突出了一个值得进一步研究的积极趋势。这些结果主张继续开发数字干预措施，以改善MCI患者的生活质量和社会融合。
