Immersive virtual reality tools that recreate a trip to the doctor could improve the number of times people with intellectual disabilities access medical advice, a new report claims. 

Researchers at the University of South Australia compared two groups of people with intellectual disabilities performing a household chore, according to the report published in the Journal of Intellectual Disability Research.

The study found that individuals with intellectual disabilities were able to complete tasks more easily after training with VR headsets compared to using non-immersive tools.

Dr Stefan Michalski, a UNSW research fellow in intellectual disability health, said the technology could be used to promote more healthcare visits from people with intellectual disabilities.

“People with intellectual disabilities have much higher rates of mortality, preventable hospitalisations and preventable deaths than the general population,” he said.

“A lot of the time, despite this high-risk profile that they have, they actually update healthcare services a lot less.

“I’m interested in using VR now to familiarise people with healthcare settings and of the experiences you would expect from an appointment, to try and reduce the fear and anxiety that people have with attending them.”

VR headsets will immerse patients in a virtual doctor’s office, allowing them to prepare for the experience in a safe, controlled setting. AI tools will mimic doctors and receptionists interacting with patients, helping people with intellectual disabilities prepare for what can be an anxious experience.

Over 60 per cent of people with an intellectual disability have great difficulty completing routine life skills. This difficulty can prevent them from living independently, leading to a poorer quality of life and a decrease in happiness.

It’s more a means of making it easier to integrate for them and also more cost effective.

Providing effective training to people with intellectual disabilities can be challenging due to injury risks, time restraints, and a lack of trained staff, according to the study.

Dr Michalski said immersive VR training provides a solution that is more effective than face-t0-face training.

“A lot of the time people with an intellectual disability can struggle transferring skills across certain environments,” he said.

“For example, learning on a PowerPoint or on a paper and pencil, transferring those concepts into real life can be the challenge. So really being able to visualise everything in VR seems to be very effective so far.”

But the technology is not without limitations. Some professionals and caregivers have raised concerns about the practical suitability of immersive VR tech in clinical and household settings. Caregivers and healthcare professionals have also flagged difficulty in learning to use the hardware as a potential barrier to continued use.

Cybersickness is another concern with the technology. Symptoms including nausea, eye strain, and dizziness forced 16 per cent of people to drop out of past studies. 

Dr Michalski says while the current research is promising, there is still a need for further study.

“We’re not seeing a huge spike in cybersickness compared to people without disabilities, which is very promising.” he said. “There will need to be a lot more funding and a lot more evidence has to be published, similar to what we’ve done with this paper.

“And basically a lot more interest from disability providers, which there is, but it’s more a means of making it easier to integrate for them and also more cost effective.”

Photo by XR Expo on Unsplash