Category: Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation Editorials

Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation

Winter 2009, Volume 2, Issue 4

 

EDITORIAL

Welcome to the Winter 2009 issue of the Journal of Cy- berTherapy & Rehabilitation (JCR). We are pleased to bring this special issue of our publication to readers, critics and researchers around the world. Our peer-re- viewed academic journal explores the uses of advanced technologies for therapy, training, education, prevention and rehabilitation. JCR is a quarterly published aca- demic journal, unique in the fact that it focuses on the rapidly expanding worldwide trend of applying ground- breaking technology towards the field of healthcare. Psychiatry, psychology, physical medicine and rehabil- itation, neurorehabilitation, oncology, obesity, eating disorders and autism continue to be main areas of inter- est studied by JCR.

Since our inaugural issue, JCR has received interna- tional attention from peers, international institutions and international conferences. A common thirst for new knowledge and application of cutting-edge technolo- gies to better the lives of others brings this diverse group of people towards a similar goal. Advanced tech- nologies, such as robotics, adaptive displays, E-health, virtual reality (VR) and non-invasive physiological monitoring are now applied to many diverse fields of healthcare. As this body of research is added to, pa- tients, doctors and therapists can look towards a hopeful future and new ways to treat mental and physical dis- orders. Within this issue of JCR, we present compre- hensive review articles submitted by preeminent scholars in the field. The content is diverse, featuring such topics as VR immersions, the effects of video game playing and even online forums to treat sufferers of disease.

This special issue of JCR includes three full papers, as well as all presented abstracts, written by presenters from the “Beyond Brain Machine Interface: Motor, Cognitive and Virtual” pre-conference workshop, held September 2, 2009 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The conference, co-organized by the Army Research Office, IEEE EMBS and the Interactive Media Institute, edu- cated attendees on more efficient and intuitive ways of achieving system control than manual manipulation and allowed for discourse among academics, members of the scientific community, biomedical device engineers and the clinician user community. Scientists from five different countries and ten diverse institutions gathered to discuss these technologies and developments in their fields of research, and gave formal presentations on their papers.

In this issue’s first article Cai, Milcent and Franco ex- plore the human-machine visual digest system by fo- cusing on the relationship between gaze and object. They describe ways to better utilize network bandwidth and in turn, minimize the resulting media footprint by combining human vision and machine vision.

Next, Scherer et al. discuss brain-computer interface re- search using EEG and ECoG-based paradigms that are presented to the reader, along with ways to improve in- formation transfer rates. Different BCI projects are dis- cussed, such as an anatomically correct testbed for a human hand model.

In the following article, Raspelli et al. conduct further research on the Multiple Errands Test, applying virtual reality to assess executive functions in patients suffer- ing from Parkinson’s disease and stroke.

In the fourth manuscript, Pallavicini et al. report find- ings on a study to treat sufferers of Generalized Anxiety Disorder using biofeedback, virtual reality and mobile phones. The use of mobile phones allowed patients to continue treatment in an outpatient setting and ad- dresses the classic problem associated with VR ther- apy–the lack of mobility for the treatment system.

Gras, Hummer and Hine, in the fifth manuscript, com- pare the reliability and validity of the Nintendo Wii Fit to the widely used NeuroCom EquiTest, to measure bal- ance and help rehabilitate patients.

Lastly, Cantelmi and Talli explain the psychological and psychopathological risks associated with overuse of the Internet, including the problems associated with defining a relevant syndrome, possible diagnostic cri- teria and possible therapies for treatment.

This issue of JCR will continue to explore the ways in which healthcare, in Europe and worldwide, can benefit from the applications of technology. I would like to sin- cerely thank the contributing authors for their inspiring work and dedication to this field of research. I also want to thank JCR’s Associate Editors – Professor Botella, Professor Bouchard, Professor Gamberini and Professor Riva for their leadership and hard work, as well as our internationally renowned Editorial Board for their contributions. We encourage readers and subscribers to con- tact us with ideas and manuscripts. Your input continues to enrich our publication. Looking to 2010, we are op- timistic as this diverse field continues to grow and at- tract those wishing to learn more and those already supporting and implementing new technologies. With only more room to grow, we will continue to bring you news of further developments in the upcoming year.

 

Brenda K. Wiederhold, Ph.D., MBA, BCIA

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation

Virtual Reality Medical Institute

Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation

Fall 2009, Volume 2, Issue 3

 

GUEST EDITORIAL

In this special issue of the Journal of CyberTherapy and Reha- bilitation, you will find several papers that were  selected from the more than one hundred submissions received by the Scien- tific Committee for the International Symposium on Neurore- habilitation.

Seeing the need to strengthen the collaboration between tech- nical and health related disciplines, the International Sympo- sium on Neurorehabilitation: from Basics to Future was held in Valencia, Spain on October 15-16, 2009. The main purpose of the Symposium was to bring together engineers, researchers and health care professionals to share ideas and experiences with the aim of creating a “common language” that will help to increase the efficacy of the neurorehabilitation process and to improve the quality of life of patients. World-renowned re- searchers in cognitive and motor rehabilitation, virtual reality, telerehabilitation, brain-machine interfaces, patient assessment, behavioral science, neuroplasticity, neuroimaging, neurophar- macology and rehabilitation robotics updated participants on the current state of their respective research areas during the Symposium. Similarly, more than 350 delegates from around the world participated in this event and provided examples of their current work.

In the coming years, the incidence of diseases and afflictions with a neurological origin will increase to–what some have ven- tured to call–epidemic proportions. Among the main reasons be- hind this “coming epidemic” is the shift that the world’s population will experience, according to several forecasts, to- wards an increasingly older population as a result of improve- ments in medicine and standards of living. According to the United Nations, more than 20 percent of the world’s population will be over 60 years old by the year 2050, more than doubling the current size of this population segment. This shift towards an older population will not be limited to the developed world; most of the developing world will experience a similar popula- tion shift in the coming decades. Unfortunately, an aging popu- lation increases exponentially the risk of suffering from afflictions affecting the central nervous system, which could lead to a lower quality of life for these individuals, or even death. Among these afflictions one can find multiple sclerosis, Parkin- son’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, among many others. Recent advances in neurorehabilitation, the specialized and interdisciplinary treatment of individuals suffering from neu- rological afflictions, can prove to be extremely important to ameliorate the suffering experienced by these individuals and to help them to return to a normal life. At the same time, we are seeing the increasing importance of technology in our everyday lives. As a result, technology is also playing an im- portant role in the improvement of neurorehabilitation, and we feel that its importance will only increase over time. Ap- plying technology to the neurorehabilitation process can not only assist us in obtaining more precise diagnostics and in improving the flow of information between health care pro- fessionals but it can also help us to develop more effective and efficient rehabilitation-specific clinical pathways. Simi- larly, the increasing bandwidth capacity of our telecommuni- cation networks could bring hope to individuals that do not have access to rehabilitation facilities by making possible the implementation of telerehabilitation-based treatments. Fur- thermore, the increasing importance of assistive technology and orthetics also shows how technology can have a great im- pact on the quality of life of our patients long after the reha- bilitation process has finalized.

In this symposium, several sessions have been centered in virtual rehabilitation and related fields. Virtual Rehabilita- tion is a recent scientific and technological area that inves- tigates the use of interactive graphics technologies and telecommunications to provide rehabilitation and clinical services in a more effective and efficient way. It is a multi- disciplinary field that combines technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, bioelectronics, medical imaging, ambient intelligence, natural man-machine interfaces, all aimed at achieving better therapies for patients and more sustainable services health.

At this moment, we are experiencing the emergence of an infor- mation society increasingly based on the production and ex- change of information. New information and computer technologies (ICT’s) are having an impact in the field of rehabil- itation of motor and cognitive functions. Over the past twenty years this progress in technology has provided clinicians with new opportunities for evaluation and treatment of cognitive dis- orders, which were not available with traditional methods. Sev- eral tools have been created in order to evaluate and train the cognitive impairment that is associated with acquired or devel- opmental cerebral damage including memory, spatial knowledge representation and planning abilities and executive function.

With virtual rehabilitation we are developing engaging virtual worlds in which patients interact while rehabilitating, envi- ronments that are capable of recognizing the patient and pro- vide the necessary services even at home, miniaturized and low-cost tracking and monitoring systems used to enable pa- tients to continue rehabilitation at home thus saving costs to health services and improving both the quality of care, intel- ligent TV screens that recognize the patient’s movements and through virtual agents are leading him in the exercises, or robotic systems that assist the patient in their exercises in both the clinic and at home. In coming years, we will attend to a revolution in this field through the combined efforts of clini- cians and technology, which we intend to make closer ties in scientific events like the International Symposium on Neu- rorehabilitation. We hope that you enjoy these papers and that you will join us in the next edition of the International Sym- posium on Neurorehabilitation to be held in 2011.

 

 

Mariano Alcañiz, Ph.D.,
Director Institute LabHuman
and Javier Chirivella, Ph.D.,
Director Servicio Daño Cerebral/NISA

Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation

Summer 2009, Volume 2, Issue 2

 

EDITORIAL

Welcome to the Summer 2009 issue of the Journal of CyberTher- apy & Rehabilitation (JCR). We are pleased to bring the fifth issue of our publication to readers, critics and researchers around the world. Our peer-reviewed academic journal explores the uses of advanced technologies for therapy, training, education, pre- vention and rehabilitation. JCR is a quarterly-published aca- demic journal, unique in the fact that it focuses on the rapidly expanding worldwide trend of applying ground-breaking tech- nology towards the field of healthcare. Psychiatry, psychology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurorehabilitation, oncol- ogy, obesity, eating disorders and autism continue to be main areas of interest studied by JCR.

Since our inaugural issue, JCR has received attention from peers, international institutions and international conferences. A common thirst for new knowledge and application of cutting-edge technolo- gies to better the lives of others drives this diverse group of people towards a similar goal. Advanced technologies, such as robotics, adaptive displays, E-health, virtual reality (VR) and non-invasive physiological monitoring are now applied to many diverse fields of healthcare. As this body of research is added to, patients, doctors and therapists can look towards a hopeful future and new ways to treat mental and physical disorders. The content of this issue of JCR reflects our diversity, featuring such topics as VR immersions, the effects of video game playing and online forums to treat suf- ferers of disease.

In the first article Wang and Reid explore the application of a virtual reality-cognitive rehabilitation (VR-CR) approach in treating autism in children. In this study, virtual reality (VR) was used as an interactive, cognitive-focused treatment which allowed for greater flexibility than traditional methods for treating autism.

Next, Murray presents research based on the treatment of phan- tom limb pain in amputees using VR. Studies using research stemming from traditional “mirror-box” methods were con- ducted and Murray looks closely at three VR systems that were implemented in the treatment of phantom limb pain.

In the third article, Aime, Cotton and Bouchard take a close look at women suffering from eating disorders and implement VR as an experimental new form of treatment for these patients. VR im- mersions were conducted to assess whether or not treatment was successful in helping women suffering from eating disorders as well as overall concern over their weight and shape.

Bouchard, St-Jacques, Renaud and Wiederhold, in the fourth manuscript, address the side effects of immersions in VR for people suffering from anxiety disorders. In this study, researchers used a sample group of patients suffering from anxieties of various types and measured reports of side effects before and after VR immer- sions to determine whether or not patients and therapists should be concerned about the lasting complications of side effects.
In the fifth paper, King and Delfabbro present findings on re- search detailing motivational differences in video game play. Factors that were considered include motivation to play video games, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, and total time spent playing. These findings can be used to help video game players determine if their playing behavior points to a problematic level of involvement.

In another article addressing video game playing, Wang and Yang explore the relationships between thrill seeking, perceived risk and aggressive tendencies and how these factors relate to the acceptance of playing violent video games. Behavioral in- tention was also closely studied as well as differences in male and female gaming styles.

Lastly, Fullwood and Wootton examine the possibilities of com- puter-mediated communication (CMC) to help patients deal with emotionally-sensitive issues. To do so, an online support forum produced by the National Society of Epilepsy was used. Key fac- tors, such as anonymity and willingness for disclosure, were studied and used to determine whether CMC meets criteria for offering support to sufferers.

Future issues of JCR will continue to explore the ways in which healthcare, in Europe and worldwide, can benefit from innova- tive applications of technology. I would like to sincerely thank the contributing authors for their inspiring work and dedication to this field of research. I also want to thank JCR’s Associate Ed- itors – Professor Botella, Professor Bouchard, Professor Gam- berini and Professor Riva for their leadership and hard work, as well as our internationally renowned Editorial Board for their contributions. We encourage readers and subscribers to contact us with ideas and manuscripts. Thank you again for your support of JCR. We look forward to providing you with more ways in which technology is contributing to increased quality of life in citizens of the world.

 

 

Brenda K. Wiederhold, Ph.D., MBA, BCIA

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation

Virtual Reality Medical Institute

Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation

Spring 2009, Volume 2, Issue 1

 

                                                                EDITORIAL

As we begin 2009, I want to say “vielen herzlichen Dank” to all those who believed in our new Journal of CyberTherapy    &    Rehabilitation    ( JCR)    and    encouraged its formation. JCR was founded after many requests from the community and exists to support the communi- ty. Our inaugural year, 2008, is now behind us, and I am pleased at the reception given by those already in the community, as well as those just discovering the benefits of adding technology to existing healthcare methods and protocols. JCR has thus far published articles by researchers and scientists from around the globe, and is disseminating its newest findings and research through advanced technologies to multiple continents and over thirty-nine countries. Led by an internationally renowned Editorial Board, JCR’s authors and board members currently hail from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. JCR is truly international and our aim is to disseminate premier research findings to all corners of the globe.

I am also proud to say that our companion publication, CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation (C&R) Magazine, was launched in December 2008. While JCR is a peer- reviewed, scientific journal, C&R serves as the voice of our association and covers clinically focused and prac- tice-driven articles, congress reports, news and other relevant topics appealing to a wider readership includ- ing industry professionals, policy makers, clinicians, and individual citizens.

In 2008, I had the sincere pleasure of participating in many international conferences, in addition to organizing the 13th annual CyberTherapy Conference in San Diego. Each conference was for me an enjoyable learn- ing experience, and I left each full of amazement at how far we have come. It is inspiring to hear both newcom- ers and veterans of cyber-psychology, therapy, training, and rehabilitation reporting on new discoveries; expand- ing this seemingly infinite field.

As Editor-in-Chief of the official journal of the 14th annual CyberTherapy & CyberPsychology conference (CT14), I am especially looking forward to the upcom- ing international conference which is being held in beau- tiful Lago Maggiore (Verbania), Italy 21-23 June 2009. CT14 has already gained much attention from interna- tional organizations and, as in years past, promises to host an international crowd of pre-eminent scientists and industry leaders.

This issue of JCR encompasses research from some of the finest scholars in the field. With submissions detailing some of the most promising applications for technology in therapy, rehabilitation, gaming, and online studies, we are proud to publish studies that have laid the ground- work for this ever-changing field up to this point. This year we are focusing on more in-depth studies, while in 2008, many of our articles served as a review of specialty areas in cybertherapy and rehabilitation. I am grateful for all the authors’ hard work, groundbreaking ideas, and sci- entific rigor in disseminating findings to help progress our community. I am both pleased and honored to pub- lish the articles in this issue knowing full well the time, energy, and countless hours these papers required.
In our first paper, Tarnanas et al. describes the basic sys- tem architecture used for virtual reality (VR) emotional human agents and develops a new method of a relative scored personality measure. The article discusses the use of VR as a potential tool for personnel screening and selection in organizations.

The second article by King and Delfabbro evaluates the status of heavy game players in comparison with Australian normative data. The physical and mental health of over 400 users, described as “heavy” video game players, was assessed.

Next, Hoffman et al. studies how interactivity influences the magnitude of VR analgesia. Hoffman explores immer- sive VR as an alternative to traditional pain medications for burn victims during their treatment. The use of a high-tech helmet has broken ground on this interactive vs. non-inter- active VR study.

The fourth article by Kott et al. uses a VR system combined with treadmill training for children with cerebral palsy. This pilot study combines treatment with the element of playful gaming to incorporate rehabilitation and technolo- gy with a level of fun.

Dr. Griffiths, in our fifth article, examines Internet addic- tion behavior and the use of Internet help and therapy for those suffering from it. It also investigates various types of online help and therapy available for online problem gam- blers and evaluates their overall effectiveness.

Next, Russoniello et al. investigates the effectiveness of casual video games in improving mood and decreasing stress. Russoniello et al. discusses the possible use of games to help treat stress-related medical disorders, including diabetes and depression. This study points to the potential of video games to both prevent and treat stress-related medical orders.

Our final paper, by Zurlo and Riva, discusses electronic brainstorming for creative idea generation. The study examined how the personality traits of group members and the characteristics of the communication process may impact both group creativity and productivity.

Once more, I would like to thank the authors for their incredible work and dedication to this growing discipline. I also want to thank JCR’s Associate Editors: Professor Botella, Professor Bouchard, Professor Gamberini, and Professor Riva for their leadership and hard work; as well as our internationally renowned Editorial Board for their many contributions.    Our next issue will continue to explore the ways in which technology influences and enhances the healthcare of citizens throughout the world. JCR is interested in original research and ideas for future thematic issues from you, our readers. This is your journal, so please contact us with your interesting manuscripts and ideas. Thank you for your continuing support of JCR. The possibilities and potential for advanced technology in healthcare are unlimited, and I am proud to be a part of such a thriving and groundbreaking community. To employ a famous quote: “Together, we can make a difference!” We can change healthcare as we know it!

 

 

Brenda K. Wiederhold, Ph.D., MBA, BCIA

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation

Virtual Reality Medical Institute

Journal of Cybertherapy & Rehabilitation

Summer 2008, Volume 1, Issue 2

 

EDITORIAL

Welcome to the second issue of the Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation (JCR). This peer-reviewed academic journal continues to explore the uses of advanced technologies for therapy, training, education, prevention, and rehabilitation. JCR is a quarterly published academic journal, which focuses on the rapidly expanding worldwide trend of moving toward technological applications in healthcare. Our main interests include, but are not limited to, psychiatry, psychology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, cognitive rehabilitation, neurorehabilitation, oncology, obesity, eating disorders, and autism, among many others.

Advanced technologies such as virtual reality (VR), robotics, non-invasive physiological monitoring, E-health, and adaptive displays are being applied to several areas of healthcare. New areas of research regarding the use of advanced technologies in healthcare are transforming this ever-changing field revealing new discoveries, aiding patients with both mental and physical disorders.

Since the debut of our inaugural issue, JCR has received international attention from peers, international institutions, and international conferences. The JCR is the official journal of the International Association of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation (IACR) and the official journal of the CyberTherapy Conference series, the fourteenth annual confer- ence will be held in Verbania next June, which has gained interest from European high-level conferences on health- care to Ministers of Health all over the European continent. The IACR has recently collaborated with Med-e-Tel 2009, an international annual telehealth conference that draws an enormous and diverse attendance, after Med-e-Tel’s 2008 addition of telepsychiatry, to bring cybertherapy to another innovative field of healthcare. Both the Association and the Journal have been invited to European conferences on health and wellbeing, which has opened many doors for opportunities through our gained publicity. “Healthcare in Europe needs to change,” remarked Zofija Mazej- Kukovic, Slovenian Minister of Health and currently holding the European Union Presidency, while interviewing for the JCR. “I look forward to working with as many possible partners and organizations in the future.”

This issue of JCR features comprehensive articles by preeminent scholars in the field. This issue’s reviews and studies include some of the most promising applications for technology in therapy and rehabilitation, surveying the concepts and studies that laid the groundwork for the field up to this point. In the previous issue, the focus of the articles were an introduction for those new to the field as well as an expansion of knowledge of those well-estab- lished in their careers with newer applications for technology in healthcare. This issue has many new and innovative expansions on cybertherapy and healthcare in more focused fields. It is exciting to see the JCR evolve into new aspects of the field, moving technology and scientific findings, as well as our journal, into the transforming field of cybertherapy.

In the first paper, Gamberini writes an article on the continual usage of computer games in healthcare. Gamberini et al. focuses their article on proposing a review of existing research on computer games, exploited for prevention, support, training, rehabilitation, and specifically reviewing the relationship between cognitive processes and gaming. The article shows the success and ability to foster motivatation and to enhance cognitive processes.

The second article, by Mülberger et al. focuses virtual reality therapy on treatment for phobias, specifically on patients who suffer from spider phobia. “A Virtual Reality Behavior Avoidance Test (VR-BAT) for the Assessment of Spider Phobia” use virtual environments and spider scenarios for a behavior avoidance test, monitoring subjective anxiety, symptoms, heart rate, skin conductance, and approach behavior in 34 female patients. Their research found a very effective result for physiological assessment of fear.

The next article by Villani and Riva which is entitled, “The Role of Media in Supporting a Stress Management Protocol: An Experimental Study,” focuses on stress management and the sense of presence carried out through virtual environments. This article suggests the importance of the sense of presence as a mediating variable between the experience and the efficacy of the relaxation process, creating new advances in therapeutic approaches.

After that, Alcaniz et al. authored “Low-cost Virtual Motor Rehabilitation for Neurophysical Disability Improvements in Impaired Patients,” which attempts to find a new way of using technology to improve motor rehabilitation to customize exercises for patients. The end result brings promising outcomes, citing increased motivation for patients in the rehabilitation process.

Later is an article using technology and therapy to treat obese patients with emotional eating. “New Technologies and Relaxation: An Explorative Study on Obese Patients with Emotional Eating,” written by Manzoni et al. analyze stress and negative emotions as critical factors in inducing overeating in obese patients using virtual reality. The authors present several examples of the effectiveness of relaxation training using VR for emotional eating.

Hoffman et al., wrote the sixth article, “Pain Control During Wound Care for Combat-Related Burn Injuries Using Custom Articulated Arm Mounted Virtual Reality Goggles,” for the use of pain control for soldiers suffering from various combat-related wounds. The VR goggle system proved to distract and even entertain many patients during wound care, dropping pain from “severe” to “mild.” This article focuses mainly on burn victims using VR as an effec- tive adjunctive nonpharmacologic analgesic for reducing cognitive pain, emotion pain, and sensory components.

Finally, the article “Applying the Technology Acceptance Model to VR with People who are Favorable to its Use,” by Bertrand and Bouchard tests the Technology Acceptance Model as applied to the use of virtual reality in clinical settings. The results reveal that Intention to Use VR is predicted only by Perceived Usefulness, which then indicates how to better document the dissemination of virtual reality among clinicians.

The third issue of JCR will continue to explore the ways in which technology influences and enhances the healthcare of citizens in Europe and throughout the world. We are interested in receiving original research and ideas for future theme issues from our readership. Current topics being considered include non-manual displays, neurophysiology, VR and e-health for special populations including the elderly, pediatrics, and those with disabilities, among others. Please contact us with your interesting manuscripts and ideas for additional topics for the Journal, and thank you for your support of this promising new publication.

 

 

Brenda K. Wiederhold, Ph.D., MBA, BCIA

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation

Virtual Reality Medical Institute

Journal of Cybertherapy & Rehabilitation

Spring 2008, Volume 1, Issue 1

    

                                                                 EDITORIAL

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Journal of CyberTherapy and Rehabilitation (JCR), a new peer-reviewed academ- ic journal that explores the uses of advanced technologies for therapy, training, education, prevention, and rehabilita- tion. Published quarterly, JCR is unique among academic journals in that it focuses on the rapidly expanding world- wide trend of moving toward technological applications in healthcare. At JCR, our main areas of interest include, but are not limited to, psychiatry, psychology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, cognitive rehabilitation, neurorehabilitation, oncology, obesity, eating disorders, and autism, among many others.

An exciting body of research regarding the utilization of advanced technologies in healthcare has emerged over the past decade, revealing the continuous advances and discoveries made by over 450 investigators to help patients with both mental and physical disorders. Advanced technologies—such as virtual reality (VR), robotics, non-invasive phys- iological monitoring, E-health, and adaptive displays—are now being applied to several areas of healthcare.

This premiere issue of JCR features comprehensive review articles by preeminent scholars in the field. These reviews cover some of the most promising applications for technology in therapy, and rehabilitation, surveying the concepts and studies that laid the groundwork for the field up to this point. It is my hope that this collection of papers will not only act as an introduction for those new to the field, but will also expand the knowledge of those well-established in their careers with newer applications for technology in healthcare. This set of articles is a repository for many of the most vital findings in CyberTherapy and Rehabilitation to date.

The first paper, by Professor Giuseppe Riva from Italy, focuses on using virtual reality (VR) as an embodied technol- ogy for managing body image. Many eating disorders (e.g. Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia, Binge Eating Disorder) are associated with a distorted body image. Because of its immersive tendencies, VR is an effective tool for altering and adjusting body image in individuals with these disorders. In addition, VR can be used for nutrition education and train- ing for those with obesity.

The second paper, “Virtual Reality for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Stress Inoculation Training,” features ways in which VR and other advanced technologies can be used to help prevent and treat stress-related reactions in sol- diers and the civilian population. Traumatic events such as motor vehicle accidents, assault, combat, or other threats to life can sometimes cause symptoms that interfere with daily life. VR exposure therapy has shown promise in alle- viating these symptoms, restoring healthy function to those affected. It has also been shown to help train individuals to deal with stressors prior to exposure.

Next is an article on using video games for therapy and rehabilitation of the elderly by Professor Luciano Gamberini of Italy. This paper offers an overview of recent game-based applications used to improve elderly people’s cognitive abilities and to treat psychological problems accompanying illnesses and social isolation. The authors present several examples of videogames adopted within training programs for elderly people, which have been tested through scien- tific procedures.

Pioggia and colleagues discuss the possible uses of robot-human interactions for the treatment and training of people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) in their article. Since individuals with ASDs have impairments in process- ing of social and emotional information, it has been suggested that robotic dolls, mobile robots and humanoids can act as social mediators to teach those with ASDs social interaction skills. It is proposed that ASD patients are better able to focus on and imitate human behavior with training from a biomimetic android.

Later in the issue Cameirão and colleagues present a review of the use of VR for cognitive neurorehabilitation following stroke. VR has revealed itself to be a beneficial tool in the diagnosis, monitoring, and recovery of motor and cognitive skills. This paper reviews cutting-edge VR applications for restoring function to the upper extremities after stroke.

Our colleagues from Canada, Côté and Bouchard, cover the history of VR use for treatment of specific phobias in their paper. They examine 39 studies on the treatment of specific phobias including acrophobia, aviophobia, claus- trophobia, arachnophobia and fear of driving. In their paper these experts provide a critical analysis of research up to this point, and propose future directions for this original application of VR.

Professor Cristina Botella’s team from Spain examines VR applications for both the treatment of chronic pain and dis- traction from acute pain generated by medical procedures or other stimuli. Many medical procedures produce acute pain, and often medication is not sufficient to counteract the distress patients experience. However, in many cases VR has been found to be an effective distracter from pain during medical treatment. The authors also address the new concept of using these advanced techniques for treating chronic pain.

And finally, Professor Sun I. Kim and fellow researchers from Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea evaluate the use of VR for patients with schizophrenia, a brain disorder that is characterized by disturbances in general cognition, such as abnormal expressions of emotion and ways of thinking, mental derangement, regression from reality, strange lan- guage or behavior, and delusion or illusion. Because VR is a medium that can present social and emotional situations via realistic human-computer interactions, it can be used for traditional forms of therapy, with the added advantage of being able to provide objective measurements.

The second issue of JCR will continue to explore the ways in which technology influences and enhances the health- care of citizens in Europe and throughout the world. We are interested in receiving original research and ideas for future theme issues from our readership. Current topics being considered include technology for the elderly, for those with disabilities, and other specialized populations. Please contact us with your interesting manuscripts and ideas for additional topics for the Journal. Thank you for your support of this promising new publication.

 

 

Brenda K. Wiederhold, Ph.D., MBA, BCIA

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation

Virtual Reality Medical Institute

Brussels, Belgium