scholarly journals Immersive Virtual Reality Applications in Schizophrenia Spectrum Therapy: A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (17) ◽  
pp. 6111
Author(s):  
Emanuele Bisso ◽  
Maria Salvina Signorelli ◽  
Michele Milazzo ◽  
Marilena Maglia ◽  
Riccardo Polosa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Side Effects ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Psychotic Symptoms ◽  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum

(1) Background: Virtual Reality (VR) is a fully immersive computer simulated experience consisting of a three-dimensional interactive virtual environment, through a head-mounted display (HMD) and controller. The use of virtual reality has recently been proposed for the treatment of various psychiatric conditions, including the spectrum of schizophrenia. Our review aims to investigate the current available evidence regarding the use of immersive virtual reality in the treatment of psychotic symptoms. (2) Methods: From April 2019 to June 2020, we conducted a systematic review aimed at identifying therapeutic applications in immersive virtual reality for the spectrum of schizophrenia, searching for relevant studies on Web of Science, EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINHAL. (3) Results: We identified a total of 2601 unique records. Of these, 64 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility, and six out of these met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final systematic review. (4) Conclusions: The available data on immersive virtual reality are currently limited due to the few studies carried out on the topic; however, it has demonstrated its effectiveness and versatility in successfully treating various psychotic symptoms including delusions, hallucinations, or cognitive and social skills. Existing literature agrees on safe, tolerable, and long-term persistence of the therapeutic effects obtained by immersive VR. No serious side effects have been reported. In some specific cases, VR therapy was found to be very effective compared to usual treatment, allowing effective drug free interventions, and therefore without side effects for patients, even in those resistant to normal drug therapies.

scholarly journals The Effectiveness of Virtual Reality in Managing Acute Pain and Anxiety for Medical Inpatients: Systematic Review

10.2196/17980 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. e17980
Author(s):  
Vinayak Smith ◽  
Ritesh Rikain Warty ◽  
Joel Arun Sursas ◽  
Olivia Payne ◽  
Amrish Nair ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Side Effects ◽  
Acute Pain ◽  
Clinical Setting ◽  
Reality Therapy ◽  
Autonomic Arousal ◽  
Inpatient Setting ◽  
Virtual Reality Therapy ◽  
Head Mounted Display

Background Virtual reality is increasingly being utilized by clinicians to facilitate analgesia and anxiolysis within an inpatient setting. There is however, a lack of a clinically relevant review to guide its use for this purpose. Objective To systematically review the current evidence for the efficacy of virtual reality as an analgesic in the management of acute pain and anxiolysis in an inpatient setting. Methods A comprehensive search was conducted up to and including January 2019 on PubMed, Ovid Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane Database of Systematic reviews according to PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Search terms included virtual reality, vr, and pain. Primary articles with a focus on acute pain in the clinical setting were considered for the review. Primary outcome measures included degree of analgesia afforded by virtual reality therapy, degree of anxiolysis afforded by virtual reality therapy, effect of virtual reality on physiological parameters, side effects precipitated by virtual reality, virtual reality content type, and type of equipment utilized. Results Eighteen studies were deemed eligible for inclusion in this systematic review; 67% (12/18) of studies demonstrated significant reductions in pain with the utilization of virtual reality; 44% (8/18) of studies assessed the effects of virtual reality on procedural anxiety, with 50% (4/8) of these demonstrating significant reductions; 28% (5/18) of studies screened for side effects with incidence rates of 0.5% to 8%; 39% (7/18) of studies evaluated the effects of virtual reality on autonomic arousal as a biomarker of pain, with 29% (2/7) demonstrating significant changes; 100% (18/18) of studies utilized a head mounted display to deliver virtual reality therapy, with 50% being in active form (participants interacting with the environment) and 50% being in passive form (participants observing the content only). Conclusions Available evidence suggests that virtual reality therapy can be applied to facilitate analgesia for acute pain in a variety of inpatient settings. Its effects, however, are likely to vary by patient population and indication. This highlights the need for individualized pilot testing of virtual reality therapy’s effects for each specific clinical use case rather than generalizing its use for the broad indication of facilitating analgesia. In addition, virtual reality therapy has the added potential of concurrently providing procedural anxiolysis, thereby improving patient experience and cooperation, while being associated with a low incidence of side effects (nausea, vomiting, eye strain, and dizziness). Furthermore, findings indicated a head mounted display should be utilized to deliver virtual reality therapy in a clinical setting with a slight preference for active over passive virtual reality for analgesia. There, however, appears to be insufficient evidence to substantiate the effect of virtual reality on autonomic arousal, and this should be considered at best to be for investigational uses, at present.

Older Adults’ Experiences and Perceptions of Immersive Virtual Reality: A Systematic Review and Thematic Synthesis (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Healy ◽  
Aisling Flynn ◽  
Owen Conlan ◽  
Jenny McSharry ◽  
Jane Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Data Extraction ◽  
Qualitative Studies ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Thematic Synthesis ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Barriers To Use ◽  
Key Steps

BACKGROUND Immersive virtual reality (IVR) can be defined as fully computer-generated environments that are displayed through a head-mounted display. Existing research suggests that key features of IVR can assist older adults in their everyday lives–providing opportunities in health promotion and tackling social isolation and loneliness. There has been a surge in the number of qualitative studies exploring older adults’ experiences and perceptions of IVR. However, there has been no systematic synthesis of these studies to inform the design of new, more accessible IVR technologies. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to systematically review and synthesize qualitative studies exploring older adults’ experiences and perceptions of IVR. METHODS A systematic review and thematic synthesis was conducted following the ENTREQ guidelines. Two reviewers completed title and abstract screening, full-text screening, data extraction and quality appraisal. Thematic synthesis is derived from the qualitative method, thematic analysis. It involves three key steps: initial coding and grouping of these codes, the formation of descriptive themes from these codes and finally, going beyond the data to form novel insights and theories known as analytical themes. Confidence in the evidence was assessed using the GRADE-CERQual approach. RESULTS Thirteen studies were included in the final synthesis, consisting of 224 participants ranging across nine countries and five continents. Confidence in the evidence ranged from high to moderate. Four descriptive themes were generated: (1) facilitating IVR interactions, (2) experiencing unique features of IVR, (3) perceptions of IVR and (4) accounts of agency in IVR. The findings from the descriptive themes suggested that there are several improvements that need to be made to existing IVR devices to greater facilitate older adults’ use of this technology. However, despite this, older adults’ responses to IVR were generally positive. Three analytical themes were then generated: (1) tolerating the bad to experience the good, (2) buying in to IVR: don’t judge a book by its cover and (3) “it proves to me I can do it”. The analytical themes illustrated that older adults were willing to tolerate discomforts that accompany existing IVR technologies to experience features such as immersive social networking experiences, there was a discrepancy between older adults’ perceptions of IVR prior to use–which were generally negative–and after use–which were generally positive–and, IVR provided a platform for older adults to access certain activities and environments more easily than in the real world due to limitations caused by ageing. CONCLUSIONS This review highlights the need to overcome initial negative views of IVR and perceived barriers to use by emphasizing the unique ability of IVR to increase older adults’ agency through features such as presence, immersion, and embodiment, which in turn offer new opportunities to take part in meaningful activities tailored to their needs and preferences. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-10.1177%2F16094069211009682

Planning participants’ preferential differences under immersive virtual reality and conventional representations: An experiment of street renewal

2020 ◽  
pp. 239980832094277
Author(s):  
Wei Zhu ◽  
Shaoyu Guo ◽  
Jinhua Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Graphic Representation ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Choice Data ◽  
Virtual Reality Technology ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Decision Mechanism ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Decision Mechanisms

Immersive virtual reality is a promising technology for planning participation. The paper contributes to the literature by comparing the latest virtual reality technology using head-mounted display with conventional graphic representation (pictures of rendered three-dimensional environments in this case) in terms of the effects on the participants’ preferences for the plans and their underlying decision mechanisms. Using a stated choice experiment based on a real-world project of street renewal, we collected choice data from 48 university students from non-design majors. We found significant quantitative but limited qualitative differences between the aggregate preferences under virtual reality and conventional graphic representation, and some generally unappealing features under conventional graphic representation were more favored under virtual reality. Results of the discrete choice modeling showed the individual decision mechanisms became more homogeneous under virtual reality. Virtual reality had stronger impacts on the female participants than the male participants. The females had more aggregate preference reversals, larger preference differences, and stronger changes in the decision mechanism. But the mechanisms of the two genders converged under virtual reality. The findings can be used to design better participatory processes with virtual reality and conventional graphic representation properly applied according to their capabilities.

scholarly journals The Effectiveness of Virtual Reality in Managing Acute Pain and Anxiety for Medical Inpatients: Systematic Review (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinayak Smith ◽  
Ritesh Rikain Warty ◽  
Joel Arun Sursas ◽  
Olivia Payne ◽  
Amrish Nair ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Side Effects ◽  
Acute Pain ◽  
Clinical Setting ◽  
Reality Therapy ◽  
Autonomic Arousal ◽  
Inpatient Setting ◽  
Virtual Reality Therapy ◽  
Head Mounted Display

BACKGROUND Virtual reality is increasingly being utilized by clinicians to facilitate analgesia and anxiolysis within an inpatient setting. There is however, a lack of a clinically relevant review to guide its use for this purpose. OBJECTIVE To systematically review the current evidence for the efficacy of virtual reality as an analgesic in the management of acute pain and anxiolysis in an inpatient setting. METHODS A comprehensive search was conducted up to and including January 2019 on PubMed, Ovid Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane Database of Systematic reviews according to PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Search terms included virtual reality, vr, and pain. Primary articles with a focus on acute pain in the clinical setting were considered for the review. Primary outcome measures included degree of analgesia afforded by virtual reality therapy, degree of anxiolysis afforded by virtual reality therapy, effect of virtual reality on physiological parameters, side effects precipitated by virtual reality, virtual reality content type, and type of equipment utilized. RESULTS Eighteen studies were deemed eligible for inclusion in this systematic review; 67% (12/18) of studies demonstrated significant reductions in pain with the utilization of virtual reality; 44% (8/18) of studies assessed the effects of virtual reality on procedural anxiety, with 50% (4/8) of these demonstrating significant reductions; 28% (5/18) of studies screened for side effects with incidence rates of 0.5% to 8%; 39% (7/18) of studies evaluated the effects of virtual reality on autonomic arousal as a biomarker of pain, with 29% (2/7) demonstrating significant changes; 100% (18/18) of studies utilized a head mounted display to deliver virtual reality therapy, with 50% being in active form (participants interacting with the environment) and 50% being in passive form (participants observing the content only). CONCLUSIONS Available evidence suggests that virtual reality therapy can be applied to facilitate analgesia for acute pain in a variety of inpatient settings. Its effects, however, are likely to vary by patient population and indication. This highlights the need for individualized pilot testing of virtual reality therapy’s effects for each specific clinical use case rather than generalizing its use for the broad indication of facilitating analgesia. In addition, virtual reality therapy has the added potential of concurrently providing procedural anxiolysis, thereby improving patient experience and cooperation, while being associated with a low incidence of side effects (nausea, vomiting, eye strain, and dizziness). Furthermore, findings indicated a head mounted display should be utilized to deliver virtual reality therapy in a clinical setting with a slight preference for active over passive virtual reality for analgesia. There, however, appears to be insufficient evidence to substantiate the effect of virtual reality on autonomic arousal, and this should be considered at best to be for investigational uses, at present.

scholarly journals Immersive virtual reality during gait rehabilitation increases walking speed and motivation: a usability evaluation with healthy participants and patients with multiple sclerosis and stroke

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Winter ◽  
Florian Kern ◽  
Dominik Gall ◽  
Marc Erich Latoschik ◽  
Paul Pauli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Side Effects ◽  
Walking Speed ◽  
Treadmill Training ◽  
Gait Rehabilitation ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Healthy Participants

Abstract Background The rehabilitation of gait disorders in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and stroke is often based on conventional treadmill training. Virtual reality (VR)-based treadmill training can increase motivation and improve therapy outcomes. The present study evaluated an immersive virtual reality application (using a head-mounted display, HMD) for gait rehabilitation with patients to (1) demonstrate its feasibility and acceptance and to (2) compare its short-term effects to a semi-immersive presentation (using a monitor) and a conventional treadmill training without VR to assess the usability of both systems and estimate the effects on walking speed and motivation. Methods In a within-subjects study design, 36 healthy participants and 14 persons with MS or stroke participated in each of the three experimental conditions (VR via HMD, VR via monitor, treadmill training without VR). Results For both groups, the walking speed in the HMD condition was higher than in treadmill training without VR and in the monitor condition. Healthy participants reported a higher motivation after the HMD condition as compared with the other conditions. Importantly, no side effects in the sense of simulator sickness occurred and usability ratings were high. No increases in heart rate were observed following the VR conditions. Presence ratings were higher for the HMD condition compared with the monitor condition for both user groups. Most of the healthy study participants (89%) and patients (71%) preferred the HMD-based training among the three conditions and most patients could imagine using it more frequently. Conclusions For the first time, the present study evaluated the usability of an immersive VR system for gait rehabilitation in a direct comparison with a semi-immersive system and a conventional training without VR with healthy participants and patients. The study demonstrated the feasibility of combining a treadmill training with immersive VR. Due to its high usability and low side effects, it might be particularly suited for patients to improve training motivation and training outcome e. g. the walking speed compared with treadmill training using no or only semi-immersive VR. Immersive VR systems still require specific technical setup procedures. This should be taken into account for specific clinical use-cases during a cost–benefit assessment.

scholarly journals Immersive Virtual Reality for Foreign Language Education: A PRISMA Systematic Review

IEEE Access ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 48952-48962
Author(s):  
Bruno Peixoto ◽  
Rafael Pinto ◽  
Miguel Melo ◽  
Luciana Cabral ◽  
Maximino Bessa
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality

scholarly journals Design of Immersive Virtual Reality System to Improve Communication Skills in Individuals with Autism

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (05) ◽  
pp. 50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osama Halabi ◽  
Samir Abou El-Seoud ◽  
Jihad Alja'am ◽  
Hena Alpona ◽  
Moza Al-Hemadi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Autistic Children ◽  
Natural Interaction ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Communications Skills ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Communication Impairments

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) regularly experience situations in which they need to give answers but do not know how to respond; for example, questions related to everyday life activities that are asked by strangers. Research geared at utilizing technology to mend social and communication impairments in children with autism is actively underway. Immersive virtual reality (VR) is a relatively recent technology that has the potential of being an effective therapeutic tool for developing various skills in autistic children. This paper presents an interactive scenario-based VR system developed to improve the communications skills of autistic children. The system utilizes speech recognition to provide natural interaction and role-play and turn-taking to evaluate and verify the effectiveness of the immersive environment on the social performance of autistic children. In experiments conducted, participants showed more improved performance with a computer augmented virtual environment (CAVE) than with a head mounted display (HMD) or a normal desktop. The results indicate that immersive VR could be more satisfactory and motivational than desktop for children with ASD.

scholarly journals Low-cost and home-made immersive systems

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 9-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sébastien Kuntz ◽  
Ján Cíger
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Vision System ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Simple Application ◽  
3D Vision ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Good Level ◽  
Application Sharing ◽  
Immersive Systems

A lot of professionals or hobbyists at home would like to create their own immersive virtual reality systems for cheap and taking little space. We offer two examples of such "home-made" systems using the cheapest hardware possible while maintaining a good level of immersion: the first system is based on a projector (VRKit-Wall) and cost around 1000$, while the second system is based on a head-mounted display (VRKit-HMD) and costs between 600� and 1000�. We also propose a standardization of those systems in order to enable simple application sharing. Finally, we describe a method to calibrate the stereoscopy of a NVIDIA 3D Vision system.

scholarly journals Validation of the Virtual Reality Neuroscience Questionnaire: Maximum Duration of Immersive Virtual Reality Sessions Without the Presence of Pertinent Adverse Symptomatology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Kourtesis ◽  
Simona Collina ◽  
Leonidas A. A. Doumas ◽  
Sarah E. MacPherson
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Clinical Settings ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Clinical Tool ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Brief Assessment ◽  
Game Mechanics ◽  
Maximum Duration

There are major concerns about the suitability of immersive virtual reality (VR) systems (i.e., head-mounted display; HMD) to be implemented in research and clinical settings, because of the presence of nausea, dizziness, disorientation, fatigue, and instability (i.e., VR induced symptoms and effects; VRISE). Research suggests that the duration of a VR session modulates the presence and intensity of VRISE, but there are no suggestions regarding the appropriate maximum duration of VR sessions. The implementation of high-end VR HMDs in conjunction with ergonomic VR software seems to mitigate the presence of VRISE substantially. However, a brief tool does not currently exist to appraise and report both the quality of software features and VRISE intensity quantitatively. The Virtual Reality Neuroscience Questionnaire (VRNQ) was developed to assess the quality of VR software in terms of user experience, game mechanics, in-game assistance, and VRISE. Forty participants aged between 28 and 43 years were recruited (18 gamers and 22 non-gamers) for the study. They participated in 3 different VR sessions until they felt weary or discomfort and subsequently filled in the VRNQ. Our results demonstrated that VRNQ is a valid tool for assessing VR software as it has good convergent, discriminant, and construct validity. The maximum duration of VR sessions should be between 55 and 70 min when the VR software meets or exceeds the parsimonious cut-offs of the VRNQ and the users are familiarized with the VR system. Also, the gaming experience does not seem to affect how long VR sessions should last. Also, while the quality of VR software substantially modulates the maximum duration of VR sessions, age and education do not. Finally, deeper immersion, better quality of graphics and sound, and more helpful in-game instructions and prompts were found to reduce VRISE intensity. The VRNQ facilitates the brief assessment and reporting of the quality of VR software features and/or the intensity of VRISE, while its minimum and parsimonious cut-offs may appraise the suitability of VR software for implementation in research and clinical settings. The findings of this study contribute to the establishment of rigorous VR methods that are crucial for the viability of immersive VR as a research and clinical tool in cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology.

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