A Review into eHealth Services and Therapies: Potential for Virtual Therapeutic Communities - Supporting People with Severe Personality Disorder

eHealth has expanded hugely over the last fifteen years and continues to evolve, providing greater benefits for patients, health care professionals and providers alike. The technologies that support these systems have become increasingly more sophisticated and have progressed significantly from standard databases, used for patient records, to highly advanced Virtual Reality (VR) systems for the treatment of complex mental health illnesses. The scope of this paper is to initially explore e-Health, particularly in relation to technologies supporting the treatment and management of wellbeing in mental health. It then provides a case study of how technology in e-Health can lend itself to an application that could support and maintain the wellbeing of people with a severe mental illness. The case study uses Borderline Personality Disorder as an example, but could be applicable in many other areas, including depression, anxiety, addiction and PTSD. This type of application demonstrates how e-Health can empower the individuals using it but also potentially reducing the impact upon health care providers and services.Comment: Book chapte

Simulating a situation of homelessness: nursing students' perceptions of learning through virtual embodiment

Individuals experiencing homelessness encounter unique challenges in accessing and receiving care in our health systems[1,2,3,4]  Preparing emerging health professionals to respond to their complex health needs will require innovative educational approaches that promote person-centered care, and stimulate critical reflection and action towards the personal, interpersonal and structural factors that shape health care delivery.[5,6,7] This presentation reports on preliminary findings of phase 1 of a critical qualitative case study of nursing student’s perceptions of learning about the experience of homelessness, through a virtual reality educational experience.  The study design was informed by critical transformative learning theories and theories of embodiment.  Twenty nursing students were engaged in a virtual reality experience of 12 minutes, followed by a 1:1 debrief interview. The debrief interview used an adapted version of the Promoting Excellence and Reflective Learning in Simulation (PEARLS) framework to elicit students’ reflections on the experience. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis involved a process of reading all of the transcripts for a sense of the whole, mindmapping each of the transcripts, identifying themes that permeated the data set, and coding data in Quirkos software. Six preliminary themes include: a) seeing the person through story, b) destabilizing assumptions and questioning stereotypes, c) embodied emotional awareness, d) challenges to care, e) recognizing vulnerability of people experiencing homelessness, and f) quality of the immersive experience in learning. The findings contribute to our knowledge about virtual reality simulation as an innovative approach to fostering learning about homelessness in health professions education. &nbsp

Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) art in care of ageing society: focus on dementia

open access articleBackground: Art enhances both physical and mental health wellbeing. The health benefits include reduction in blood pressure, heart rate, pain perception and briefer inpatient stays, as well as improvement of communication skills and self-esteem. In addition to these, people living with dementia benefit from reduction of their noncognitive, behavioural changes, enhancement of their cognitive capacities and being socially active. Methods: The current study represents a narrative general literature review on available studies and knowledge about contribution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in creative arts. Results: We review AI visual arts technologies, and their potential for use among people with dementia and care, drawing on similar experiences to date from traditional art in dementia care. Conclusion: The virtual reality, installations and the psychedelic properties of the AI created art provide a new venue for more detailed research about its therapeutic use in dementia

Supporting Optimal Aging through the Innovative Use of Virtual Reality Technology

Although virtual reality (VR) technology has been implemented as a tool to address the health issues of older adults, its applicability to social connectedness is underrepresented in the literature, and less is known about its efficacy in this area in contributing to overall wellness and well-being in later life. Expanding the VR possibilities beyond traditional entertainment purposes holds considerable potential for the older adult market. Technological tools have been employed in the elder health care field for many years, and cutting-edge developments such as virtual and augmented reality have begun to be used to facilitate optimal wellness in aging. Such technological advances have the potential to significantly impact one of the most important issues that older people face: social isolation and loneliness. This paper will serve as an introductory exploration of what is currently known about the use of virtual reality technology with an older cohort

Presence and rehabilitation: toward second-generation virtual reality applications in neuropsychology

Virtual Reality (VR) offers a blend of attractive attributes for rehabilitation. The most exploited is its ability to create a 3D simulation of reality that can be explored by patients under the supervision of a therapist. In fact, VR can be defined as an advanced communication interface based on interactive 3D visualization, able to collect and integrate different inputs and data sets in a single real-like experience. However, "treatment is not just fixing what is broken; it is nurturing what is best" (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi). For rehabilitators, this statement supports the growing interest in the influence of positive psychological state on objective health care outcomes. This paper introduces a bio-cultural theory of presence linking the state of optimal experience defined as "flow" to a virtual reality experience. This suggests the possibility of using VR for a new breed of rehabilitative applications focused on a strategy defined as transformation of flow. In this view, VR can be used to trigger a broad empowerment process within the flow experience induced by a high sense of presence. The link between its experiential and simulative capabilities may transform VR into the ultimate rehabilitative device. Nevertheless, further research is required to explore more in depth the link between cognitive processes, motor activities, presence and flow

Virtual and Augmented Reality in Basic and Advanced Life Support Training

The use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) for life support training is increasing. These technologies provide an immersive experience that supports learning in a safe and controlled environment. This review focuses on the use of AR and VR for emergency care training for health care providers, medical students, and nonprofessionals. In particular, we analyzed (1) serious games, nonimmersive games, both single-player and multiplayer; (2) VR tools ranging from semi-immersive to immersive virtual and mixed reality; and (3) AR applications. All the toolkits have been investigated in terms of application goals (training, assessment, or both), simulated procedures, and skills. The main goal of this work is to summarize and organize the findings of studies coming from multiple research areas in order to make them accessible to all the professionals involved in medical simulation. The analysis of the state-of-the-art technologies reveals that tools and studies related to the multiplayer experience, haptic feedback, and evaluation of user’s manual skills in the foregoing health care-related environments are still limited and require further investigation. Also, there is an additional need to conduct studies aimed at assessing whether AR/VR-based systems are superior or, at the minimum, comparable to traditional training methods

ON INTER-REALITY LITERACY: EMOTIONS AS PREDICTORS OF PERFORMANCE IN VIRTUAL WORLDS

Virtual worlds, set-up on the Internet, occur as a highly complex form of visual media. They foreshadow future developments, not only in leisure settings, but also in health care and business environments. The interaction between real-life and virtual worlds, i.e., inter-reality, has recently moved to the center of scientific interest (Bainbridge 2007). Particularly, the empirical assessment of the value of virtual embodiment and its outcomes is needed (Schultze 2010). Here, this paper aims to make a contribution. Reviewing prior media theories and corresponding conceptualizations such as presence, immersion, media literacy and emotions, we argue that in inter-reality, individual differences in perceiving and dealing with one’s own and other’s emotions influence an individual\u27s performance. Providing construct operationalizations and model propositions, we suggest testing the theory in the context of competitive and socially interactive virtual worlds

Theoretically-Driven Infrastructure for Supporting Health Care Teams Training at a Military Treatment Facility

Designated a Department of Defense Team Resource Center (TRC) in 2008, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) currently hosts three tri-service health care teams training courses annually. Each consists of didactic learning coupled with simulation-based training exercises to provide an interactive educational experience for health care professionals. Simulated cases are developed to reinforce specific teamwork skills and behaviors, and to incorporate a variety of technologies including standardized patients, manikins, and virtual reality. The course is also the foundation of a research program designed to explore applications of modeling and simulation for enhanced team training in health care. The TRC has adopted two theoretical frameworks for evaluating training efficacy and outcomes, and has used these frameworks to guide a systematic reconfiguration of the infrastructure supporting health care teams training at NMCP

Virtual Reality Technologies in Health Care: A Literature Review of Theoretical Foundations

The digitization of health care promises an improvement of medical care through the adoption of virtual reality (VR) related technologies. Although most undergoing mechanisms of clinical effectiveness are yet not defined theoretically, research approaches have already taken place in several empirical settings. To structure current and upcoming scientific work in this field, we conducted a literature review with regard to theoretical implications of both IS-related and healthcare-related research. We found several theoretical bases to build upon in the field of psychology, but expressed a need for enrichment of theoretical foundations in the field of IS research. We therefore plead for a theoretical foundation enriched by synergetic concepts of clinically effective VR related technologies. Finally, we conclude that VR related technologies appear as a promising approach worth further theoretical and empirical research in order to improve medical care

Developing Virtual Reality Simulations for Office-Based Medical Emergencies

Virtual reality simulation may significantly benefit a geographically dispersed learner demographic in the medical outpatient setting. Our research used an immersive virtual reality platform as a novel way to recreate high-risk medical scenarios targeted for office-based emergencies. Using a design-based research approach we designed virtual-reality-based simulation scenarios to prepare interprofessional office personnel for emergencies. Learners were connected using laptop computers, via a browser interface, with learner controlled team member avatars and educator controlled patient avatars. The virtual environment was modeled after a multi-provider healthcare office setting in a large suburban health network. Evaluation occurred via post-event surveys and feedback transcribed from video recordings and debriefings. Three office-based emergency scenarios were created (chest pain, respiratory distress/allergic reaction, and suicidal risk), with progressively smaller changes to the virtual environment with each iterative improvement. In total, 18 individuals representative of a typical outpatient office interprofessional care team participated in the study. Qualitative design-related feedback from participants and faculty improved the educational environment, artifacts, and scenarios. Participant feedback was overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic about the use of virtual reality-based simulations to explore teamwork, build scope of practice, and rehearse infrequently used clinical skills. We successfully created novel outpatient virtual reality simulations in a first-person-perspective virtual environment. Pilot testing revealed successful rapid development, implementation, and participant orientation, with the ability to present learning opportunities. Future efforts will include assessments and attempt to overcome development barriers by switching to a more versatile platform