Home // eTELEMED 2021, The Thirteenth International Conference on eHealth, Telemedicine, and Social Medicine // View article

A Survey on AR/VR Games for Mental and Physical Public Health

Authors:
Yu Fu
Yan Hu
Veronica Sundstedt

Keywords: Virtual reality, augmented reality, public health,games, survey

Abstract:
The use of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) has recently been increased in various people's work and life. The combination of technology with digital games have recently received much attention. The 2020 Augmented and Virtual Reality Survey Results report by Perkins Coie, XR Association, and Boost VC, pointed out that immersive techniques are leaving from laboratory research and theoretical applications and growing up as fully mature and income-generating marketplaces. Except for games and entertainment, the most common area reported was healthcare and medical devices from immersive technologies, followed by education. The survey presented in this paper explores the usage, perceived benefits and problems of AR/VR games for mental or physical health. It also highlights future features that users would see as relevant in these applications. Through an online questionnaire, we found examples of used AR/VR games and their usage frequency, the user's perception of their mental or physical health benefits and problems, and the prospects to physical and mental health for AR/VR games. This study is helpful for researchers and developers both in computer science and medical science. It provides people with examples of existing consumer-level products, their advantages and disadvantages, and AR/VR games' requirements relevant to mental and physical health. In future work, the survey sample size would be extended to collect additional user experience data and further explore the challenges and opportunities of such techniques for public health.

Pages: 50 to 58

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2021

Publication date: July 18, 2021

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4359

ISBN: 978-1-61208-872-3

Location: Nice, France

Dates: from July 18, 2021 to July 22, 2021