Class E-Therapy in Rehabilitation

This Curriculum Unit (UC) offers a comprehensive insight into the development of virtual environments by exploring the knowledge necessary to create a working team, the proper hardware and the software development process. The program also addresses the potential benefits of virtual reality (RV) applications such as the sense of presence, body ownership, and the vicarious agency, as well as considering the factors involved in delivering these experiences. Students will have contact with the literature on immersive systems applications, especially in the field of rehabilitation, and will learn to create simple virtual environments without the need for programming. UC prepares students to dialogue with technical teams and understand the limitations and possibilities of technology.

Not applicable

PC1.- General Introduction: - History and examples of immersive systems - Multisensory Integration and VR - Basic concepts of VR, theory and methods of measurement: Presence, PI, PsI, Embodiment, Body Ownership, agency PC2.- Technical aspects - What makes up a VR system? Hardware, software, designing an application, team working, exposure to building Unity applications - How to build an environment - modeling tools, computer vision techniques PC3.- Examples of VR applications for Research in: - Rehabilitation - Psychology - Social Sciences - Humanities PC4.- Applications and ethical considerations: - Project review (an in-depth review of a whole project starting from concept through to delivery - Open discussion on the Ethical aspects of VR use

These areas of application will be reviewed by students (tutored by the professor) and presented in the second part of the CU. In the first part, students will participate in workshops demonstrating specific examples developed in our labs for which students will have to know in more detail and develop some mastery on their use.

Cai, H., Lin, T., Chen, L., Weng, H., Zhu, R., Chen, Y., & Cai, G. (2021). Evaluating the effect of immersive virtual reality technology on gait rehabilitation in stroke patients: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials, 22(1), 91. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-021-05031-z Dockx, K., Bekkers, E. M., Van den Bergh, V., Ginis, P., Rochester, L., Hausdorff, J. M., Mirelman, A., & Nieuwboer, A. (2016). Virtual reality for rehabilitation in Parkinson's disease. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 12(12), CD010760. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD010760.pub2 Huang, Q., Wu, W., Chen, X., Wu, B., Wu, L., Huang, X., Jiang, S., & Huang, L. (2019). Evaluating the effect and mechanism of upper limb motor function recovery induced by immersive virtual-reality-based rehabilitation for subacute stroke subjects: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials, 20(1), 104. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-019-3177-y