Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Mental health care in virtual worlds
An academic paper out of Italy and the Netherlands describes "immersive e-therapy," a hybrid therapy in clinical psychology that occurs in both virtual-world and physical-world settings. Authors Alessandra Gorini, Andrea Gaggioli, and Cinzia Vigna "suggest that, compared with conventional telehealth applications such as emails, chat, and videoconferences, the interaction between real and 3-D virtual worlds may convey greater feelings of presence, facilitate the clinical communication process, positively influence group processes and cohesiveness in group-based therapies, and foster higher levels of interpersonal trust between therapists and patients." They also look at "challenges related to the potentially addictive nature of such virtual worlds" and "questions related to privacy and personal safety."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Second Life has a growing site dedicated to folks dealing with autism. Participates speak highly of the interactions there.
ReplyDeleteMark Dunk
(Unklar Klaar in SL)