Virtual Reality in the Healthcare Sector of Today - Gaining Allies or Making Adversaries through Immersive Virtual Environments and Technical Decisions
Authors
Nguyen, Minh Tam ; Bjerborg, Rasmus ; Pedersen, Lucas Oscar Grosso
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2018
Submitted on
2018-06-01
Pages
108
Abstract
Specialet undersøger, hvordan virtuel reality (VR) og hovedmonterede displays (HMD’er) introduceres og bruges i sundhedsvæsenet på tre steder: den psykologiske klinik Cool Kids og to afdelinger på Rigshospitalet, Pediatric Pain Knowledge Center og Youth Medical Knowledge Center. Hvert sted har forskellige mål: at bruge VR til gradvis eksponering af børn med hundefobi i et kontrolleret virtuelt miljø; at reducere eller fjerne smerte under procedurer med nåle; og at give immunsvækkede unge i isolation mulighed for at opleve verden uden for hospitalet. Stederne er forbundet af en fælles interesse i VR og et samarbejde med udvikleren Khora, som har lavet de anvendte applikationer. Studiet anvender antropologiske metoder—deltagerobservation og interviews—og trækker på aktør-netværksteori (ANT), især Akrich m.fl. (2002) “A Key to Success in Innovation”, for at beskrive det socio-tekniske netværk og de alliancer, der støtter eller hindrer VR. Det bygger også på Slater og Wilburs (1997) ramme om immersive virtuelle miljøer og tilstedeværelse. Med udgangspunkt i den ramme argumenterer vi for, at den nuværende hundefobi-applikation hos Cool Kids mangler tilstrækkelig immersion og derfor ikke kan bruges til psykoterapi som tiltænkt; uden immersion kan brugerne ikke overføre læring fra VR til den virkelige verden. ANT-analysen viser desuden, at aktører, der opbygger og mobiliserer stærke alliancer omkring VR, opnår de mest robuste resultater, og at HMD’er designet til hjemmebrug skaber praktiske og tekniske mismatch i hospitalsmiljøer. I Pediatric Pain Knowledge Center fungerer VR som et interessement-redskab: det tiltrækker klinikere og børn, fordi det effektivt afleder fra nålesmerte, hvilket hjælper med at skabe alliancer og fastholde brugen.
This thesis examines how virtual reality (VR) and head-mounted displays (HMDs) are introduced and used in healthcare across three sites: the psychological clinic Cool Kids, and two departments at Rigshospitalet, the Pediatric Pain Knowledge Center and the Youth Medical Knowledge Center. Each site pursues different aims: using VR to gradually expose children with dog phobia in a controlled virtual environment; reducing or eliminating pain during needle procedures; and giving immunocompromised youths isolated in hospital a way to experience the outside world. The sites are connected by a shared interest in VR and by collaboration with the developer Khora, which built the applications used. The study uses anthropological methods—participant observation and interviews—and draws on Actor-Network Theory (ANT), especially Akrich et al.’s “A Key to Success in Innovation” (2002), to describe the socio-technical networks and the alliances that support or hinder VR. It also uses Slater and Wilbur’s (1997) framework on immersive virtual environments and presence. Based on that framework, we argue that the current dog-phobia application at Cool Kids lacks sufficient immersion and therefore is not usable for psychotherapy as intended; without immersion, users cannot transfer learning from VR to real life. The ANT-informed analysis further shows that actors who build and mobilize strong alliances around VR achieve the most robust results, and that bringing HMDs designed for home use into hospitals creates practical and technical mismatches. At the Pediatric Pain Knowledge Center, VR functions as an interessement device: it attracts clinicians and children because it effectively distracts from needle pain, helping to enroll allies and sustain use.
[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]
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