Almeida João, Nunes Francisco
Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS, Porto, Portugal.
JMIR Rehabil Assist Technol. 2020 Feb 21;7(1):e15428. doi: 10.2196/15428.
Many rehabilitation clinics adopted serious games to support their physiotherapy sessions. Serious games can monitor and provide feedback on exercises and are expected to improve therapy and help professionals deal with more patients. However, there is little understanding of the impacts of serious games on the actual work of physiotherapists.
This study aimed to understand the impact of an electromyography-based serious game on the practical work of physiotherapists.
This study used observation sessions in an outpatient rehabilitation clinic that recently started using a serious game based on electromyography sensors. In total, 44 observation sessions were performed, involving 3 physiotherapists and 22 patients. Observation sessions were documented by audio recordings or fieldnotes and were analyzed for themes with thematic analysis.
The findings of this study showed that physiotherapists played an important role in enabling the serious game to work. Physiotherapists briefed patients, calibrated the system, prescribed exercises, and supported patients while they played the serious game, all of which amounted to relevant labor.
The results of this work challenge the idea that serious games reduce the work of physiotherapists and call for an overall analysis of the different impacts a serious game can have. Adopting a serious game that creates more work can be entirely acceptable, provided the clinical outcomes or other advantages enabled by the serious game are strong; however, those impacts will have to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Moreover, this work motivates the technology development community to better investigate physiotherapists and their context, offering implications for technology design.
许多康复诊所采用了严肃游戏来辅助其物理治疗课程。严肃游戏可以监测并提供有关运动的反馈，有望改善治疗效果并帮助专业人员处理更多患者。然而，对于严肃游戏对物理治疗师实际工作的影响了解甚少。
本研究旨在了解基于肌电图的严肃游戏对物理治疗师实际工作的影响。
本研究在一家门诊康复诊所进行了观察，该诊所最近开始使用基于肌电图传感器的严肃游戏。总共进行了44次观察，涉及3名物理治疗师和22名患者。观察通过录音或现场记录进行记录，并采用主题分析法对主题进行分析。
本研究结果表明，物理治疗师在使严肃游戏发挥作用方面发挥了重要作用。物理治疗师向患者介绍情况、校准系统、规定运动，并在患者玩严肃游戏时提供支持，所有这些都构成了相关的工作。
这项工作的结果挑战了严肃游戏会减少物理治疗师工作量的观点，并呼吁对严肃游戏可能产生的不同影响进行全面分析。如果严肃游戏带来的临床结果或其他优势显著，采用一款会带来更多工作的严肃游戏可能完全可以接受；然而，这些影响必须逐案评估。此外，这项工作促使技术开发社区更好地研究物理治疗师及其工作环境，为技术设计提供了启示。
