There is always going to be a reason why you can't do something, your job is toconstantly look for the reasons why you can achieve your dreams.
Shannon Miller -7x Olympic Gymnast medallist
AcknowledgmentsI would like to firstly express my sincere gratitude to my advisor ProfessorMaría Teresa Arredondo Waldmeyer for her continuous support of my PhD studies and related research, and for her inspiration, tenacity, and immense knowledge.In addition to my advisor, I thank Prof. María Fernanda Cabrera-Umpiérrez and Prof. Francisco J. García-Sánchez, not only for their insightful commentaries and supportive encouragement, but also for the helpful suggestions and revision recommendations which motivated me to extend the scope of my research work to wider perspectives.I also thank my former colleagues and present fellow teammates at LifeSTech for the stimulating discussions, help and advice, as well as for the interesting times we shared working and learning together at several projects during the last years.Last but not least, I thank my family and friends for supporting all my life goals and purposes, and for the patience shown while I was writing this thesis.ix
AbstractHandling the care needs of people affected by Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) represents nowadays a personal, familial and social challenge of enormous proportions, which poses an ever growing human and economic burden on the world's society in general. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have the potential to make a considerable impact to help revert this trend, especially through the use of advanced virtual reality (VR)-based computerized diagnostic and therapeutic cognitive interventions for people living with, or at risk of developing,ADRD. This doctoral thesis aims to facilitate the use of such VR-based interventions.To that end, it makes specific original contributions regarding: the categorization of VR systems particularly designed for ADRD; an analysis and assessment of the current relevance and impact of the 'brain training debate' involving commercial brain training products; an up-to-date critical description of the technical and scientific challenges faced today for the development of effective VR-based cognitive training tools; and finally, this thesis proposes a novel methodological design framework to provide guidance to researchers and developers with the design process of VR-based tools to address the care needs of people with ADRD. The framework is based on our previous critical analysis of the most recent knowledge available about VR cognitive interventions. The framework and its ensuing roadmap take into account, not only universal design principles, standard techniques and methodologies, but also addresses the specific aspects of accessibility and usability that are particular to the use VR-based platforms on patients with ADRD-associated cognitive impairments.x xi
ResumenEl manejo de las necesidades de atención de las personas afectadas por la enfermedad de Alzheimer y demencias relacionadas (EADR)...