Virtual Reality in the Intensive Care Unit: Potential Applications and the Role of Social VR for Creating Shared Experiences to Promote Well-Being

Abstract

Patients who remain in the intensive care unit for a longer period of time often experience great psychological strain due to the stressful situation, isolation and separation from family and friends, in addition to their health complaints. Visitations are a valuable means of alleviating the psychological stress of isolated patients. The children of these patients represent an often forgotten risk group who also suffer considerably from the parent's hospitalization. However, there are various restrictions that can make such visits difficult or even impossible. Furthermore, German hospitals often lack (child)-friendly environments and privacy that would promote a positive experience. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate whether a virtual reality (VR) application, in addition to regular visits, can be used by patients and their relatives, in particular children, to promote patient well-being and foster parent-child relationships and enable meaningful and fun interactions between them. The focus of this thesis will be to investigate which special requirements and needs the target group of patients in the intensive care unit has in order to develop a social VR application on this basis. To accomplish this, interviews will be conducted with the patients as part of a requirements analysis and a literature review will be performed. Based on the results, a concept will be developed and implemented, building up on an existing prototype. Lastly, a usability test of the application will be carried out with patient/relative and parent/child dyads.