Restorative Virtual Environment Design for Augmenting Nursing Home Rehabilitation

Authors

  • Jon Ram Bruun-Pedersen Aalborg University Copenhagen
  • Stefania Serafin Aalborg University Copenhagen
  • Lise Busk Kofoed Professor Department of Architechture, Design and Media Technology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v9i3.7224

Keywords:

Older adults, Multimodal Interaction, Virtual Environments, Design Framework, Recreation, Rehabilitation, Virtual Reality, Exercise Motivation

Abstract

With increasing age, muscle strength decreases excessively rapidly if physical activity is not maintained. However, physical activity is increasingly difficult with aging. This is due to balance, strength or coordination difficulties, arthritis, etc. Moreover, many nursing home residents become unable to experience natural surroundings. Augmenting a conventional biking exercise with a recreational virtual environment (RVE) has shown to serve as an intrinsic motivation contributor to exercise for nursing home residents. RVEs might be able to provide some of the health benefits that regular nature experiences do. More studies on content of proper custom designs for RVEs are necessary. This paper reviews the background for RVE design, describes four custom RVE designs for recreational VE exploration and presents user preferences among nursing home users concerning content and other pivotal design considerations.

Author Biographies

Jon Ram Bruun-Pedersen, Aalborg University Copenhagen

Research Assistant

Department of Architechture, Design and Media Technology

Stefania Serafin, Aalborg University Copenhagen

Professor

Department of Architechture, Design and Media Technology

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Published

2016-02-04

Issue

Section

Research Papers