WP 5 - University:Ā UT-2Ā
Faculty:Ā Behavioural, Management and Social SciencesĀ
High engagement of at-risk populations with unobtrusive high-tech monitoring and intervening in daily-life by using experimental adaptive future-self approachesĀ Ā
Development of eHealth monitoring and coaching systems starts with including participants needs and wishes to determine the scope and acceptance of technology. This "peoples wishes first approachā is an important step in developing meaningful and effective health technology. The downside is that users can only express needs which they are currently able to imagine. In work package 5, we are using virtual reality to visualize potential future sensor technology to create a more vivid and experiential needs assessment experience. Building on these needs, ways to proactively engage cancer- and obesity patients with innovative, tailored, and non-obtrusive sensor technology for health monitoring will be investigated. This will be done by letting them experiment with sensor-related future-self representations in the form of digital twins, and the sensor system in an adaptive virtual environment which simulates daily living in a future home. By using virtual reality as a visualization tool for formative evaluation in eHealth development, we aim to develop systems that contribute optimally to meaningful lifestyle change of high-risk populations to ensure successful and sustainable implementation of the system.Ā
Using virtual reality for needs assessment purposes is an innovative approach, so not much was done in this regard before the project, especially in the context of eHealth. Virtual reality in itself is a relatively new technology and the concept of future selves and digital twins is also not extensively researched. However, some information on virtual reality- and future-self interventions in the healthcare context is already available through previous studies. Therefore, literature reviews on these two topics were initiated. Both reviews will soon be finished, with the future-self review being in the final stages of preparation for journal submission, and the virtual reality review currently going through the process of peer review.
Lessons learned along the way were used to design the first virtual reality experiments consisting of four future home variations which differ in the level of sensor obtrusiveness and the framing of feedback messages. Experimental conditions with high sensor obtrusiveness include wall-mounted sensors and an interactive smartwatch, whereas low sensor obtrusiveness conditions only include a non-interactive sensor patch. The feedback messages were either task-focused, giving only factual information, or person-focused, introducing compassionate and encouraging elements to the feedback.
The virtual reality environment was created from scratch in collaboration with the BMS Lab at the University of Twente. The game engine Unity was used to create a living space in which a sensor-feedback system was integrated to show to the participants what sensor-assisted lifestyle change in daily life could look like in the future. Needs and wishes will be assessed by means of self-report questionnaires revolving around, e.g., behavioural stages of change, health literacy, and internal feedback styles, as well as a semi-structured interview. Data collection for the virtual reality needs assessment is about to start, both for participants with cancer and obesity. Soon after, the future-self review and results from the needs assessment will inform the next stage of the project in which digital twins will be embedded into the virtual reality experience.