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Session: Poster Session 1 (Even numbers)
Session starts: Thursday 26 January, 16:00
Presentation starts: 16:00

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Salvatore Luca Cucinella (Delft University of Technology & Erasmus University Medical Center)
Joost de Winter (Delft University of Technology)
Heike Vallery (Delft University of Technology & Erasmus University Medical Center)
Laura Marchal-Crespo (Delft University of Technology)

Abstract:
Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR)-based rehabilitation allows people suffering from a stroke to train their paretic limbs in controlled virtual environments with the aim of regaining their cognitive and motor functions [1,2]. Compared to conventional VR-based rehabilitation using computer screens, IVR using head-mounted displays can be tailored to the patient's physical and psychological constraints and goals. Thus, in IVR, patients training in a first-person perspective experience a more naturalistic and controlled representation of reality [3]. This visualization technology aims to stimulate patients physically and mentally, thus promoting neuroplasticity; however, its effectiveness depends on multiple intrinsic and extrinsic factors playing a crucial role in the therapy outcome, such as motivation [4]. Using a User-Centered Design (UCD) approach and employing the Double-Diamond model as the research framework [5], we aim to investigate these factors to design a suitable virtual training environment and - eventually, to evaluate their impact on the effectiveness of (and adherence to) IVR-based neurorehabilitation among people who suffered a stroke. User observations and semi-structured interviews with ten rehabilitation experts from Rijndam Revalidatie, Rotterdam, will help us define the patients' experience and gain insight into the therapy treatment. This research aims to produce knowledge regarding the role and responsibilities of the healthcare professionals involved in the care of patients, the tools used for assessing the patients' motor and cognitive abilities, and the intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing the rehabilitation outcomes. In a following co-creation session, participants will be involved in activities to generate new ideas on the requirements of virtual training environments, thus shaping the future of technology-driven rehabilitation.