Bodily resonance: Exploring the effects of virtual embodiment on pain modulation and the fostering of empathy toward pain sufferers

Globally, around 20% of people suffer from chronic pain, an illness that cannot be cured and has been linked to numerous physical and mental conditions. According to the BioPsychoSocial model of pain, chronic pain presents patients with biological, psychological, and social challenges and difficulties. Immersive virtual reality (VR) has shown great promise in helping people manage acute and chronic pain, and facilitating empathy of vulnerable populations. Therefore, the first research trajectory of this dissertation targets chronic pain patients’ biological and psychological sufferings to provide VR analgesia, and the second research trajectory targets healthy people to build empathy and reduce patients’ social stigma. Researchers have taken the attention distraction approach to study how acute pain patients can manage their condition in VR, while the virtual embodiment approach has mostly been studied with healthy people exposed to pain stimulus. My first research trajectory aimed to understand how embodied characteristics affect users’ sense of embodiment and pain. Three studies have been carried out with healthy people under heat pain, complex regional pain syndrome patients, and phantom limb pain patients. My findings indicate that for all three studies, when users see a healthy or intact virtual body or body parts, they experience significant reductions in their self-reported pain ratings. Additionally, I found that the appearance of a virtual body has a significant impact on pain, whereas the virtual body’s motions do not. Despite the prevalence of chronic pain, public awareness of it is remarkably low, and pain patients commonly experience social stigma. Thus, having an embodied perspective of chronic pain patients is critical to understand their social stigma. Although there is a growing interest in using embodied VR to foster empathy towards gender or racial bias, few studies have focused on people with chronic pain. My second trajectory explored how researchers can foster empathy towards pain patients in embodied VR. To conclude, this dissertation uncovers the role of VR embodiment and dissects embodied characteristics in pain modulation and empathy generation. Finally, I summarized a novel conceptual design framework for embodied VR applications with design recommendations and future research directions

The use of virtual reality in studying prejudice and its reduction : A systematic review

Peer reviewe

A Reflection on Virtual Reality Design for Psychological, Cognitive & Behavioral Interventions: Design Needs, Opportunities & Challenges

Despite the substantial research interest in using Virtual Reality (VR) in healthcare in general and in Psychological, Cognitive, and Behavioral (PC&B) interventions in specific, as well as emerging research supporting the efficacy of VR in healthcare, the design process of translating therapies into VR to meet the needs of critical stakeholders such as users and clinicians is rarely addressed. In this paper, we aim to shed light onto the design needs, opportunities and challenges in designing efficient and effective PC&B-VR interventions. Through analyzing the co-design processes of four user-centered PC&B-VR interventions, we examined how therapies were adapted into VR to meet stakeholders’ requirements, explored design elements for meaningful experiences, and investigated how the understanding of healthcare contexts contribute to the VR intervention design. This paper presents the HCI research community with design opportunities and challenges as well as future directions for PC&B-VR intervention design

Investigating resilience patterns based on within-subject changes in sleep and resting heart rate variability

Occupational stress can cause all kinds of health problems. Resilience interventions that help employees deal with and adapt to adverse events can prevent these negative consequences. Due to advances in sensor technology and smartphone applications, relatively unobtrusive self-monitoring of resilience-related outcomes is possible. With models that can recognize intra-individual changes in these outcomes and relate them to causal factors within the employee’s own context, an automated resilience intervention that gives personalized, just-in-time feedback can be developed. The Wearables and app-based resilience Modelling in employees (WearMe) project aims to develop such models. A cyclical conceptual framework based on existing theories of stress and resilience is presented, as the basis for the WearMe project. The included concepts are operationalized and measured using sleep tracking (Fitbit Charge 2), heart rate variability measurements (Elite HRV + Polar H7) and Ecological Momentary Assessment (mobile app), administered in the morning (7 questions) and evening (12 questions). The first (ongoing) study within the WearMe project investigates the feasibility of the developed measurement cycle and explores the development of such models in social studies students that are on their first major internship. Analyses will target the development of both within-subject (n=1) models, as well as between-subjects models. The first results will be shared at the Health By Tech 2019 conference in Groningen. If successful, future work will focus on further developing these models and eventually exploring the effectiveness of the envisioned personalized resilience system

The Experience of Mental Health Practitioners With Computer Games Designed to Induce Empathy

Though mental health care providers’ primary function is to facilitate improved outcomes for their clients, providers who have stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illness can compromise therapeutic outcomes for those living with mental disorders. The therapeutic relationship is the component of care most closely tied to therapeutic outcomes, and this relationship is often jeopardized by provider stigma. Training and mid-career interventions to reduce stigma by enhancing provider empathy for persons with mental illness show varying levels of effectiveness and a majority of these use lecture based instruction. Interventions that engage mental health providers in the experience of persons with mental health (such as role-playing, photovoice, and positive contact with persons who have mental health issues) have shown to be more effective at enhancing provider empathy. Computer games have also been designed and tested for this purpose, and offer significant promise in enhancing empathy through their immersive nature and consistent feedback. This study applies secondary analysis to qualitative interviews with mental health providers who have played the empathy-enhancing games FLUCTuation, Into Darkness, It’s for the Best, and Perfection in order to better understand their experiences and emotional and cognitive responses to the gameplay, as well as their reactions regarding the utility of these games

Collaborative game development with indigenous communities; A theoretical model for ethnocultural empathy

This thesis studies how collaboratively designed games can be used as a means to empathically share cultural perspectives and emotions between unrelated communities. The paper also discusses some of the diversity issues present within the video game industry, especially those dealing with Indigenous cultural content, and to promote the “world games” movement of inclusive game production. The project began with an examination of various concepts that make up the current psychological theory of empathy. Academic findings on cultural empathy were specifically explored, and Wang et. al’s (2003) theory of ethnocultural empathy was examined. A literature review continued with further examination of the methods for empathic game design and production. The literature also considered how specific game elements and practices of intercultural sensitivity function within collaborative game design and development, leading to a more in-depth study of co-development with Indigenous communities. From this, two theoretical models were developed and proposed. The Ethnocultural Empathy Analysis model looked specifically at methods for e-empathic game design, and the Intercultural Sensitivity model presented reflective questions for Indigenous co-development. These models were then applied to three game project case studies. Two of the studies examined the commercial games, Never Alone and Mulaka. The third study, the Sámi Game Jam, included a personal reflection of my first-hand experience in an Indigenous co-development setting. Finally, the results of this thesis proposed ways that games, as a unique, interactive medium, can be successfully used to both address, and even eliminate, much of the cultural disconnection and ignorance present in today’s world