Yawen Chang *, Ghodratollah Bagheri Ragheb **, Li Wang *** and Haiyang Yu ****
(*) Zhengzhou University, 450001, Zhengzhou, China
(**) Sports Management, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran, Qom, Iran
(***) Hebei Sport University, 050041, Shijiazhang, China
(****) Nanchang Institute of Science and Technology, 330044, Nanchang, China
Citation
Chang, Y., Bagheri Ragheb, G., Wang, L., Yu, H. (2026). Promoting Psychological Well-Being and Preventing Suicide in Older Chinese Women through Gamified Group-Based Virtual Reality Exercise. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 57(4), 277-301. doi:10.7352/IJSP.2026.57.277
Abstract
Suicide among older women is a critical public health concern in China, often associated with social isolation, chronic illness, and diminished life purpose. Physical activity (PA) has been shown to improve psychological well-being and mitigate key risk factors related to suicidal ideation, such as depression and hopelessness; however, sustaining regular PA in older adults remains challenging. In this context, gamification has been proposed as an approach to enhance motivation, engagement, and adherence to PA. In this regard, this quasi-experimental study examined whether gamified group-based physical activities delivered through virtual reality could enhance life hope and subjective vitality among elderly women exhibiting suicidal ideation. A total of 120 women aged 61-81 years were recruited from four senior care institutions in Beijing and randomly allocated to either a control group (n = 60) or an experimental group (n = 60). The experimental group participated in a five-week VR-based exercise program (15 sessions; 35-50 minutes per session; three sessions per week) conducted on-site using Pico 4 Enterprise headsets. Activities included virtual cycling, boxing, and balance-based team games incorporating gamification principles based on Werbach and Hunter’s (2012) framework, such as scoring, ranking, and personalized visual rewards. The control group engaged in traditional, non-interactive exercise sessions of equivalent duration and frequency. Prior to analysis, assumptions of normality and homogeneity of variances were assessed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Levene’s tests. ANCOVA analyses controlling for pre-test scores revealed significant improvements in life hope (η² = 0.28, p < 0.01) and subjective vitality (η² = 0.20, p < 0.01) in the VR group compared with the control group. These findings suggest that gamified VR-based exercise may represent a promising, non- pharmacological approach to enhancing psychological well-being and addressing suicide-related risk factors among older women. This study contributes novel evidence on the integration of gamification and virtual reality within suicide prevention efforts for older adult populations.
Keywords: Mental Vitality, Sport Psychology, VR Training, Elderly Women