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Register a new userImmersive VR as a Tool to Enhance Relaxation for Undergraduate Students with the Aim of Reducing Anxiety - A Pilot Study
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Added by
James Lewis Mr
Publication date
2019
fields
Informatics Engineering
and research's language is
English
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Despite extensive use in related domains, Virtual Reality (VR) for generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) has received little previous attention. We report upon a VR environment created for the Oculus Rift and Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) to investigate the potential of a VR simulation to be used as an anxiety management tool. We introduce the broad topic of GAD and related publications on the application of VR to this, and similar, mental health conditions. We then describe the development of a real time simulation tool, based upon the passive VR experience of a tranquil, rural alpine scene experienced from a seated position with head tracking. Evaluation focused upon qualitative feedback on the application. Testing was carried out over the period of two weeks on a sample group of eleven students studying at Nottingham Trent University. All participants were asked to complete the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (DASS21) at the beginning and at the end of the study order to assess their profile, and hence suitability to comment upon the software. Qualitative feedback was very encouraging, with all participants reporting that they believed the experience helped and that they would consider utilising it if it was available. Additionally, a psychologist was asked to test the application to provide a specialist opinion on whether it would be appropriate for use as an anxiety management tool. The results highlight several areas for improvement but are positive overall in terms of its potential as a therapeutic tool.
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Although route and exit choice in complex buildings are important aspects of pedestrian behaviour, studies predominantly investigated pedestrian movement in a single level. This paper presents an innovative VR tool that was designed to investigate pedestrian route and exit choice in a multi-story building. This tool supports free navigation and collects pedestrian walking trajectories, head movements and gaze points automatically. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the VR tool from objective standpoints (i.e., pedestrian behaviour) and subjective standpoints (i.e., the feeling of presence, system usability, simulation sickness). The results show that the VR tool allows for accurate collection of pedestrian behavioural data in the complex building. Moreover, the results of the questionnaire report high realism of the virtual environment, high immersive feeling, high usability, and low simulator sickness. This paper contributes by showcasing an innovative approach of applying VR technologies to study pedestrian behaviour in complex and realistic environments.
Objective: This study aims to identify the social determinants of mental health among undergraduate students in Bangladesh, a developing nation in South Asia. Our goal is to identify the broader social determinants of mental health among this population, study the manifestation of these determinants in their day-to-day life, and explore the feasibility of self-monitoring tools in helping them identify the specific factors or relationships that impact their mental health. Methods: We conducted a 21-day study with 38 undergraduate students from seven universities in Bangladesh. We conducted two semi-structured interviews: one pre-study and one post-study. During the 21-day study, participants used an Android application to self-report and self-monitor their mood after each phone conversation. The app prompted participants to report their mood after each phone conversation and provided graphs and charts so that participants could independently review their mood and conversation patterns. Results: Our results show that academics, family, job and economic condition, romantic relationships, and religion are the major social determinants of mental health among undergraduate students in Bangladesh. Our app helped the participants pinpoint the specific issues related to these factors as participants could review the pattern of their moods and emotions from past conversation history. Although our app does not provide any explicit recommendation, participants took certain steps on their own to improve their mental health (e.g., reduced the frequency of communication with certain persons). Conclusions: Overall, the findings from this study would provide better insights for the researchers to design better solutions to help the younger population from this part of the world.
Background: Major postoperative complications are associated with increased short and long-term mortality, increased healthcare cost, and adverse long-term consequences. The large amount of data contained in the electronic health record (EHR) creates barriers for physicians to recognize patients most at risk. We hypothesize, if presented in an optimal format, information from data-driven predictive risk algorithms for postoperative complications can improve physician risk assessment. Methods: Prospective, non-randomized, interventional pilot study of twenty perioperative physicians at a quarterly academic medical center. Using 150 clinical cases we compared physicians risk assessment before and after interaction with MySurgeryRisk, a validated machine-learning algorithm predicting preoperative risk for six major postoperative complications using EHR data. Results: The area under the curve (AUC) of MySurgeryRisk algorithm ranged between 0.73 and 0.85 and was significantly higher than physicians risk assessments (AUC between 0.47 and 0.69) for all postoperative complications except cardiovascular complications. The AUC for repeated physicians risk assessment improved by 2% to 5% for all complications with the exception of thirty-day mortality. Physicians risk assessment for acute kidney injury and intensive care unit admission longer than 48 hours significantly improved after knowledge exchange, resulting in net reclassification improvement of 12.4% and 16%, respectively. Conclusions: The validated MySurgeryRisk algorithm predicted postoperative complications with equal or higher accuracy than pilot cohort of physicians using available clinical preoperative data. The interaction with algorithm significantly improved physicians risk assessment.
In this paper we present the results of an exploratory study examining the potential of voice assistants (VA) for some groups of older adults in the context of Smart Home Technology (SHT). To research the aspect of older adults interaction with voice user interfaces (VUI) we organized two workshops and gathered insights concerning possible benefits and barriers to the use of VA combined with SHT by older adults. Apart from evaluating the participants interaction with the devices during the two workshops we also discuss some improvements to the VA interaction paradigm.
In this article we report a case study of a Language Learning Bauhaus VR hackathon with Goethe Institute. It was organized as an educational and research project to tap into the dynamics of transdisciplinary teams challenged with a specific requirement. In our case, it was to build a Bauhaus-themed German Language Learning VR App. We constructed this experiment to simulate how representatives of different disciplines may work together towards a very specific purpose under time pressure. So, each participating team consisted of members of various expert-fields: software development (Unity or Unreal), design, psychology and linguistics. The results of this study cast light on the recommended cycle of design thinking and customer-centered design in VR. Especially in interdisciplinary rapid prototyping conditions, where stakeholders initially do not share competences. They also showcase educational benefits of working in transdisciplinary environments. This study, combined with our previous work on human factors in rapid software development and co-design, including hackathon dynamics, allowed us to formulate recommendations for organizing content creation VR hackathons for specific purposes. We also provide guidelines on how to prepare the participants to work in rapid prototyping VR environments and benefit from such experiences in the long term.
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