The impact of virtual reality training on patient-therapist interaction

Abstract

This paper presents the development and evaluation of a Virtual Reality Kitchen to study the impact of VR rehabilitation on patient-therapist interaction in comparison to conventional rehabilitation. The study was conducted on 10 patients; 5 in an experimental group and 5 in a control group continuing with their conventional rehabilitation at NeuroRehab Centre Sydvestjysk Sygehus in Grindsted, Denmark. The therapists at NeuroRehab were supervising the test sessions for physical and verbal guidance over a period of four weeks requiring the patients and therapists to use the system three times per week for 30 min. A semi-structured interview was conducted with each participant from both groups. Additionally, each test session was video recorded to observe the physical and verbal interaction between the patient and the therapist and possible conversations. The outcome of this study indicated a clear difference between the therapists and their way of interacting with the patients. The therapists with experience in VR rehabilitation approached the patients, as in a conventional training session, utilising verbal and physical guidance, including hand gestures and commands, whereas the therapists with no VR rehabilitation experience did not.