Abstract
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a prevalent group of permanent and non-progressive disorders affecting movement and requiring long-term rehabilitation. Commercially available virtual reality (VR) games have shown potential in improving rehabilitation outcomes in children with CP. This paper is part of an ongoing interdisciplinary collaborative research project on integrating technology in rehabilitative care through an immersive technology system designed for improving mobility of children with CP. This paper aims to describe the process and considerations in developing and designing a VR application for children with CP, and in assessing the proposed VR application. Toward these objectives, requirements for the application were determined through an iterative process of review of literature, focus group discussions among rehabilitation professionals and game designers, and prototype-testing. Participants agreed on the importance of interprofessional collaboration and designing role-play games to improve adherence to therapeutic plans. Results highlight the need for an application that is (a) tailored to the needs of children with CP, but also flexible for customization to their varying presentations and levels of skill; (b) able to balance familiarity, fun, and challenge to encourage and engage patients to participate in therapy; and (c) available and accessible to health professionals and their patients.
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Aguila, M.E.R. et al. (2023). Application Design of a Virtual Reality Therapy Game for Patients with Cerebral Palsy. In: Krouska, A., Troussas, C., Caro, J. (eds) Novel & Intelligent Digital Systems: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference (NiDS 2022). NiDS 2022. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 556. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17601-2_17
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