Virtual Reality Medical Institute

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is generating extreme psychological stress associated with sadness, grief, irritability, and mood swings. Virtual reality (VR) is an immersive technology that may enhance individuals’ personal efficacy, emotional response, and wellbeing.Objective: We aimed to conduct a single-cohort, controlled trial with a 2:1 (waiting-list – VR protocol) allocation for a self-administered at-home weekly VR-based protocol for reducing the psychological burden experienced during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy.Methods: A national convenience sample of individuals having experienced at least two months of strict social distancing measures (including the stay-at-home order) experienced the following weekly protocol (“COVID Feel Good”, available online here: www.covidfeelgood.com) consisting of two integrated parts: the first part consists of a 10-minute 360° VR video entitled “Secret Garden” and the second part includes a series of social exercises, with a specific goal for each day of the week. Half of the sample experienced the VR video on the smartphone only, while the other half experienced the VR video using an immersive headset. Primary outcome measures were depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms (measured using the DASS-21, the PSS and the BHS scales). Secondary outcomes were the experienced social connectedness and the level of fear experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic (measured using the SCS and FCOR scales). Analytic methods included different separate linear mixed-effects models.Results: The study sample was 40 adults [18 females; mean age 30.3± 12.00 (range: 21–65)]. Results indicated no significant changes (P=1.000) in study variables between the waiting period (i.e., data collected 7 days before the start of the treatment) and the baseline (i.e., data collected at the beginning of the intervention, T0). Participants exhibited improvement from baseline to postintervention for almost all primary variables (all Ps < 0.05), except for the perceived hopelessness (P=0.1098). Results for the secondary outcomes indicated an increase in social connectedness from T0 to T1 (P=0.0327), but not a significant reduction in the perceived fear of Coronavirus (P=0.4121). Results indicated that treatment positive effects were stable at the 2-weels of follow-up for all study variables, except for depressive symptoms. None of the models were significant on the factor “Immersion”, suggesting that there is no significant effect of the modality (immersive vs non immersive) on the results of the treatment.Conclusions: This pragmatic pilot trial tried to understand if and how a weekly VR self-help protocol can help individuals in overcoming the psychological burden associated with spread of the COVID-19 and the consequent health emergency. The results, even if preliminary, suggest the efficacy of the proposed protocol. Moreover, its current availability in 12 different languages - English, Spanish, French, Brazilian/Portuguese, German, Italian, Turkish Japanese, Korean, Farsi, Romanian and Catalan – make COVID Feel Good a free and effective choice for helping individuals worldwide to cope with the psychological distress related to the COVID-19 crisis.

The persistence of the coronavirus-caused respiratory disease (COVID-19) and the related restrictions to mobility and social interactions are forcing a significant portion of students and workers to reorganize their daily activities to accommodate the needs of distance learning and agile work (smart working). What is the impact of these changes on the bosses/teachers' and workers/students' experience? This article uses recent neuroscience research findings to explore how distance learning and smart working impact the following three pillars that reflect the organization of our brain and are at the core of school and office experiences: (a) the learning/work happens in a dedicated physical place; (b) the learning/work is carried out under the supervision of a boss/professor; and (c) the learning/work is distributed between team members/classmates. For each pillar, we discuss its link with the specific cognitive processes involved and the impact that technology has on their functioning. In particular, the use of videoconferencing affects the functioning of Global Positioning System neurons (neurons that code our navigation behavior), mirror neurons, self-attention networks, spindle cells, and interbrain neural oscillations. These effects have a significant impact on many identity and cognitive processes, including social and professional identity, leadership, intuition, mentoring, and creativity. In conclusion, just moving typical office and learning processes inside a videoconferencing platform, as happened in many contexts during the COVID-19 pandemic, can in the long term erode corporate cultures and school communities. In this view, an effective use of technology requires us to reimagine how work and teaching are done virtually, in creative and bold new ways.

Virtual reality (VR) pain distraction has been applied across medical, surgical, and behavioral healthcare domains, marking a shift in pain attenuation practices. However, there is little research that has been performed to compare the efficacy of traditional head-mounted displays (HMDs) versus portable VR devices. The present study evaluated 44 outpatients in need of lipoma resection. Randomized into two groups-HMD versus mobile phone VR-participants navigated pain distraction virtual environments while undergoing surgery. Vital signs and subjective pain measurements via a visual analog scale were taken before, during, and after the surgery. Results indicate that the HMD group reported greater pain reduction than the Mobile group. Overall, this study points to the efficacy of nonpharmacological pain attenuation practices. Although both systems reduced pain during surgery, the clinically validated VR environments seen in the HMD group were more effective. This study does show that inexpensive solutions can work in surgical settings. Future research should be performed to identify the most effective VR pain distraction systems.

Surgical anxiety creates psychological and physiological stress, causes complications in surgical procedures, and prolongs recovery. Relaxation of patients in postoperative intensive care units can moderate patient vital signs and reduce discomfort. This experiment explores the use of virtual reality (VR) cybertherapy to reduce postoperative distress in patients that have recently undergone cardiac surgery. Sixty-seven patients were monitored at IMSS La Raza National Medical Center within 24 hours of cardiac surgery. Patients navigated through a 30 minute VR simulation designed for pain management. Results were analyzed through comparison of pre- and postoperative vital signs and Likert scale survey data. A connection was found in several physiological factors with subjective responses from the Likert scale survey. Heavy positive correlation existed between breathing rate and Likert ratings, and a moderate correlation was found between mean arterial pressure and Likert ratings and heart rate and Likert ratings, all of which indicated lower pain and stress within patients. Further study of these factors resulted in the categorization of patients based upon their vital signs and subjective response, providing a context for the effectiveness of the therapy to specific groups of patients.

We describe the main features and preliminary evaluation of Positive Technology, a free mobile platform for the self-management of psychological stress (http://positiveapp.info/). The mobile platform features three main components: (i) guided relaxation, which provides the user with the opportunity of browsing a gallery of relaxation music and video-narrative resources for reducing stress; (ii) 3D biofeedback, which helps the user learning to control his/her responses, by visualizing variations of heart rate in an engaging 3D environment; (iii) stress tracking, by the recording of heart rate and self-reports. We evaluated the Positive Technology app in an online trial involving 32 participants, out of which 7 used the application in combination with the wrist sensor. Overall, feedback from users was satisfactory and the analysis of data collected online indicated the capability of the app for reducing perceived stress levels. A future goal is to improve the usability of the application and include more advanced stress monitoring features, based on the analysis of heart rate variability indexes.

Game mechanics have been identified as "methods invoked by agents for interacting with the game world."(1) They are elements of game play that provide a primary source of interactivity and structure how videogames proceed. Many kinds of game mechanics have been generated. Some provide fun or enjoyment, others may provide excitement or even suspense (i.e., emotional aspects of game play), whereas some are guided by principles of behavior change theory. Game mechanics that succeed in off-the-shelf entertainment videogames, however, may not work in serious games, such as games for health (G4H). Although game mechanics are key to a serious videogame's success, maintaining a balance between the serious intent of the game while keeping it fun, there has been little attention to game mechanics in the academic G4H literature. Several eminent games for health developers (academics and nonacademics) were asked to share their experiences in regard to game mechanics in the serious videogames they have developed.

The European Commission identified active and healthy ageing as a societal challenge common to all European countries, and an area which presents considerable potential for Europe to lead the world in providing innovative responses to this challenge (http://ec.europa.eu/active-healthy-ageing). To tackle the challenge of an ageing population, the European Commission launched the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Active and Healthy Ageing. What can cyberpsychology offer to this process? After presenting the main features of cyberpsychology, this paper identifies in patient engagement and positive technologies the key assets that will allow the technological innovations constantly being developed to provide greater help and care in enabling elderly people to live more normal, happier, fulfilling lives.