Morie J, Haynes E, Chance E, Purohit D
University of Southern California, Institute for Creative Technologies, Playa Vista, CA, USA.
Stud Health Technol Inform. 2012;181:27-31.
We are entering a new age where people routinely visit, inhabit, play in and learn within virtual worlds (VWs). One in eight people worldwide are VW participants, according to the latest 2011 figures from KZERO [1]. VWs are also emerging as a new and advanced form of telehealth care delivery. In addition to existing telehealth care advantages; VWs feature three powerful affordances that can benefit a wide range of physical and psychological issues. First, the highly social nature of VWs encourages social networking and the formation of essential support groups. Secondly, the type of spaces that have been proven in the physical world to promote psychological health and well-being can be virtually recreated. Finally, research suggests that embodied avatar representation within VWs can affect users psychologically and physically. These three aspects of VWs can be leveraged for enhanced patient-client interactions, spaces that promote healing and positive responses, and avatar activities that transfer real benefits from the virtual to the physical world. This paper explains the mounting evidence behind these claims and provides examples of VWs as an innovative and compelling form of telehealth care destined to become commonplace in the future.
我们正在进入一个新时代，人们经常在虚拟世界（VW）中访问、居住、玩耍和学习。根据KZERO 2011年的最新数据，全球每八个人中就有一个是虚拟世界的参与者[1]。虚拟世界也正在成为远程医疗服务的一种新的先进形式。除了现有的远程医疗优势外，虚拟世界还具有三种强大的特性，可惠及广泛的生理和心理问题。首先，虚拟世界高度社交的性质鼓励社交网络的形成以及关键支持群体的组建。其次，在现实世界中已被证明能促进心理健康和幸福的空间类型可以在虚拟世界中重新创建。最后，研究表明，虚拟世界中具身化的化身表现能够在心理和生理上影响用户。虚拟世界的这三个方面可用于加强医患互动、促进康复和产生积极反应的空间以及将实际益处从虚拟世界转化到现实世界的化身活动。本文解释了这些说法背后越来越多的证据，并列举了虚拟世界作为一种创新且引人注目的远程医疗形式的例子，这种形式注定在未来会变得很普遍。
