Augmented Reality for Rehabilitative Therapy: Patient experiences and Practitioner perspectives

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, researchers have investigated the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) to enhance rehabilitative therapies by improving motor control, supporting motivation, and offering analgesic effects. Prior work indicates that patient adherence to prescribed in-home regimens has significant impact on recovery time. Though Connected Health Technologies and Virtual and Augmented Reality (AR/VR) may maximize in-home adherence and recovery, questions about design and deployment remain. We designed a first-person Augmented Reality (AR) experience to elicit user and practitioner perspectives about AR for rehabilitative contexts. We found significant differences between patient and practitioner-report of regimen adherence. We also identified key attitude barriers to adopting VR/AR for clinical practice which may impact support for in-home VR/AR use. Findings from these studies inform directions for future research and development about the use of VR/AR in a therapeutic context.

What is the Current and Future Status of Digital Mental Health Interventions?

“…AR is an attractive tool because it allows people to immerse themselves in the real environment while experiencing stimuli that seem practically real. Thus far, AR has been used mostly in the fields of medicine (Eckert et al, 2019), training (Barsom et al, 2016), and rehabilitation (Williams et al, 2019), showing promising results. However, the application of AR in the field of clinical psychology is still limited and has focused mainly on the treatment of phobias (Vinci et al, 2020).…”