ABSTRACT
Technologies are currently advancing exponentially in all areas and circumstances of society. The need to use and optimise these technologies has been accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused a change in the way people act, discovering new needs and barriers. This has also affected the field of social work as well as people with disabilities, making interventions more difficult or revealing new barriers that had not been detected before, respectively. One of the fastest growing technologies in recent years is the gaming industry, which in turn interacts with a host of different software and hardware components, including mixed, virtual and augmented reality. But can these technologies be useful in the field of social work? To investigate this topic, research was carried out by asking social workers and people with disabilities about their needs, barriers, and preferences regarding interventions they carry out, the problems they encounter when interacting with technology, and the possibilities that these new technologies can offer to all of them. This research included a focus on the predisposition of participants to adopt or use new gaming mechanisms, through gamification and serious games.
