Rasmey Kao, Nathanael Paulus, & Dr. Kristen Linton
Abstract
Many people with brain injuries do not receive formal rehabilitation after their injuries
due to accessibility and cost issues. Research on immersive virtual reality has shown potential to improve outcomes for people with brain injury without the access and cost issues. Subject Background or Theoretical Considerations Neurological theories posit that our brain processes virtual reality like it does the “real world,” and this helps with participants’ self-efficacy as they now see themselves as the avatar in the scenario.
This transdisciplinary, Community Based Participatory Research study aimed to assess the impact of virtual reality on rehabilitative outcomes for people with brain injuries. Do immersive virtual reality scenarios improve prospective memory and eye tracking?
Survivors of brain injuries (n = 12) participated in two focus groups to share their vision of what skills the scenarios would help them build as well as how the scenario would look. Most participants desired virtual reality to help them with prospective memory and eye tracking. A randomized controlled, delayed intervention pilot study on the usability, acceptability, of three virtual reality scenarios has been conducted in winter and spring 2023. Two scenarios were hiking scenarios aimed at improving prospective memory and a third scenario was a beach scenario aimed at improving eye tracking. Six participants with brain injuries were randomized into an intervention and control group. The intervention group participants completed the virtual reality scenarios using HTC VIVE headsets twice a week for about 20-30 minutes each session for six weeks. The control group participants played a memory card game for 20-30 minutes twice a week for six weeks and had a delayed start of the virtual reality intervention at the 7th week. HTC VIVE headsets use an algorithm to deduce the participants’ eyes gaze angle. Data include screen recording and pre and post-surveys as baseline and six weeks later.
Details
Session 1
11:15am – 12:30pm
Del Norte Hall
Room A: 1555
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