Mobile immersive virtual technologies for professional communities of practice

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Virtual Reality

Background:

• Anxiety disorder treatment increasingly utilizes virtual environments.
• Psychosocial theories like ethnomethodology and Situated Action Theory inform therapeutic practices.
• Understanding therapist-patient interaction dynamics is crucial for effective virtual therapy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an Immersive Virtual Technology (IVT) system for psychotherapists.
• To integrate a dialogical perspective throughout the IVT system design and implementation process.
• To enhance the understanding of therapist-patient interactions within virtual therapeutic settings.

Main Methods:

• Development of an IVT system tailored for a community of psychotherapists.
• Application of psychosocial theoretical frameworks, including ethnomethodology and Situated Action Theory.
• Inspiration from a dialogical perspective to guide system design, analysis, and clinical integration.

Main Results:

• The IVT system facilitates a deeper understanding of therapist and patient actions and interactions.
• A dialogical approach enabled flexible integration of design, analysis, and clinical protocol stages.
• The system supports the use of virtual environments for anxiety disorder treatment.

Conclusions:

• The developed IVT system effectively supports psychotherapists using virtual environments for anxiety treatment.
• A dialogical design perspective enhances the integration and usability of virtual reality in therapy.
• The system promotes a more fluid understanding of interactions between therapists and patients in virtual settings.