WEBINAR: Virtual Reality: A Brief Review of the Future

This presentation will provide a brief description of the various forms of VR technology and describe the trajectory of Clinical VR over the last 20 years addressing health and clinical treatment of anxiety disorders, PTSD, pain management, autism, and in the assessment/rehabilitation of stroke, brain injury, and other neurologically-based conditions. We will also discuss advances in Virtual Human technology for clinical training, healthcare coaching, and clinical interviewing.

September 03, 2019

Virtual Reality: A Brief Review of the Future
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
1:00 pm EDT

REGISTER NOW

 

Summary:

Since the mid-1990s, a significant scientific literature has evolved regarding the outcomes from the use of what we now refer to as Clinical Virtual Reality (VR). This use of VR simulation technology has produced encouraging results when applied to address cognitive, psychological, motor, and functional impairments across a wide range of clinical health conditions.

This presentation will provide a brief description of the various forms of VR technology and describe the trajectory of Clinical VR over the last 20 years addressing health and clinical treatment of anxiety disorders, PTSD, pain management, autism, and in the assessment/rehabilitation of stroke, brain injury, and other neurologically-based conditions. We will also discuss advances in Virtual Human technology for clinical training, healthcare coaching, and clinical interviewing.

After attending this webinar you will be able to:

  • Describe the definition of Virtual Reality (VR) and the different ways that people can engage and interact with VR environments.
  • Explain the specific rationales for the use of VR for assessment and intervention across a wide range of clinical disorders (i.e., ADHD, PTSD, Alzheimer's, Phobias, Stroke, addictions, etc.).
  • Understand the theoretical and research support for the use of VR in clinical populations.
  • Understand the relevant issues involved in the informed and ethical design, development, implementation, and evaluation of virtual environments for use in clinical assessment and intervention.

This talk will be helpful for people who are just now learning about VR and want to know how it can be usefully applied in the pro-social area of healthcare, beyond just gaming and entertainment applications. Experts in either VR or healthcare will get an informed perspective on the state of the field moving into the future.

REGISTER NOW

Speaker:

Albert “Skip” Rizzo is a clinical psychologist and Director of Medical Virtual Reality at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies. He is also a Research Professor with the USC Dept. of Psychiatry and at the USC Davis School of Gerontology. Over the last 25 years, Skip has conducted research on the design, development and evaluation of Virtual Reality systems targeting the areas of clinical assessment, treatment and rehabilitation across the domains of psychological, cognitive and motor functioning in both healthy and clinical populations. This work has focused on PTSD, TBI, Autism, ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and other clinical conditions. Some of his recent work has involved the creation of artificially intelligent virtual human (VH) patients that novice clinicians can use to practice skills required for challenging diagnostic interviews and for creating online virtual human healthcare guides, and clinical interviewers with automated sensing of facial, gestural, and vocal behaviors useful for inferring the state of the user interacting with these virtual human entities. In spite of the diversity of these clinical R&D areas, the common thread that drives all of his work with digital technologies involves the study of how interactive and immersive Virtual Reality simulations can be usefully applied to address human healthcare needs beyond what is possible with traditional 20th Century tools and methods.