Proceedings #17: Immersive Virtual Reality Cognitive Training for Patients with Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Background Traumatic brain injury (TBI) poses a significant threat to children’s health. Cognitive rehabilitation for pediatric TBI has the potential to improve the quality of life following the injury. Virtual reality (VR) can provide enriched cognitive training in a life-like but safe environment. However, existing VR applications for pediatric TBIs have primarily focused on physical rehabilitation. Objective This study aims to design and develop an integrative hardware and software VR system to provide rehabilitation of executive functions (EF) for children with TBI, particularly in 3 core EF: inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. Methods The VR training system was developed by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in best practices of VR design, developmental psychology, and pediatric TBI rehabilitation. Pilot usability testing of this novel system was conducted among 10 healthy children and 4 children with TBIs. Results Our VR-based interactive cognitive training system was developed to provide assistive training on core EF following pediatric TBI. Pilot usability testing showed adequate user satisfaction ratings for both the hardware and software components of the VR system. Conclusions This project designed and tested a novel VR-based system for executive function rehabilitation that is specifically adapted to children following TBI.

Download Full-text

Virtual Reality–Based Executive Function Rehabilitation System for Children With Traumatic Brain Injury: Design and Usability Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.16947 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Jiabin Shen ◽

Henry Xiang ◽

John Luna ◽

Alice Grishchenko ◽

Jeremy Patterson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Virtual Reality ◽

Executive Function ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Cognitive Training ◽

User Satisfaction ◽

Usability Testing ◽

Training System ◽

Healthy Children ◽

Pediatric Tbi

BACKGROUND Traumatic brain injury (TBI) poses a significant threat to children’s health. Cognitive rehabilitation for pediatric TBI has the potential to improve the quality of life following the injury. Virtual reality (VR) can provide enriched cognitive training in a life-like but safe environment. However, existing VR applications for pediatric TBIs have primarily focused on physical rehabilitation. OBJECTIVE This study aims to design and develop an integrative hardware and software VR system to provide rehabilitation of executive functions (EF) for children with TBI, particularly in 3 core EF: inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. METHODS The VR training system was developed by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in best practices of VR design, developmental psychology, and pediatric TBI rehabilitation. Pilot usability testing of this novel system was conducted among 10 healthy children and 4 children with TBIs. RESULTS Our VR-based interactive cognitive training system was developed to provide assistive training on core EF following pediatric TBI. Pilot usability testing showed adequate user satisfaction ratings for both the hardware and software components of the VR system. CONCLUSIONS This project designed and tested a novel VR-based system for executive function rehabilitation that is specifically adapted to children following TBI.

Download Full-text