Extended Reality–Based Mobile App Solutions for the Therapy of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: Systematic Literature Review (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disability that is becoming increasingly prevalent, which has led to considerable research being focused on the therapy of individuals with autism, especially children, bearing in mind that early diagnosis and appropriate treatment can lead to an improvement in the condition. With the widespread availability of virtual/augmented/mixed reality (VR/AR/MR) technologies to the general public and the increasing popularity of mobile devices, there is a growing interest in the use of applications and technologies to provide support for the therapy of children with autism. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of virtual/ augmented/ mixed reality technologies in the context of therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder and to conduct a systematic review of the literature on the development of mobile applications based on these technologies. METHODS For the systematic literature review, six research questions were defined in the first phase, after which five international databases (Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, IEEE Xplore Digital Library, and ACM Digital Library) were searched using specific search strings. Results were centralized, filtered, and processed, applying eligibility criteria and using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method. The publications considered for the present study were carefully analyzed, and research questions were answered. RESULTS In the first step, 179 publications found during the search were imported. After reviewing the title and abstract, a total of 89 publications were excluded because they did not address the proposed topic, focusing either on another condition or on other technologies. Next, for the analysis of the remaining 90 publications, the full text has been reviewed and the quality assessment criteria have been applied. The eligibility criteria were applied to 78 publications. After quality assessment, a total of 28 publications were considered in this study, in order to answer the research questions. CONCLUSIONS Although the concept of augmented/ virtual/ mixed reality is not exactly new, it has only recently begun to be used in the development of applications for the therapy of children with ASD. The findings reported in various publications indexed in five scientific databases highlighted the fact that these technologies are appropriate for this type of therapy, which motivates the in-depth study of this topic and the development of future applications based on these technologies. Several studies show a distinct trend toward the use of augmented reality technology as an educational tool for people with ASD. This trend entails multidisciplinary cooperation and an integrated approach to research, with an emphasis on comprehensive empirical evaluations and technology ethics.