In conjunction with NASA and UTMB, the Occupational Therapy department at TLC is researching the effects of practicing normal Activities of Daily Living skills (ADLs) in a virtual environment versus a real environment.
- Study compares rehabilitation progress in a virtual kitchen to that of an actual kitchen
- Study explores the development of neuro pathways through controlled repetitive actions
- Study provides safety measures not found in real kitchen:
- Simulates handling hot vessels
- Reminds client to turn off stove
- Avoids reaching across a real flame
This research studies virtual environments as settings for relearning daily living skills: a pilot investigation in cognitive rehabilitation.
OBJECTIVE: To study the use of prototype computer-simulated virtual environment to assess basic daily living skills in a sample of persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI).
BACKGROUND: The benefits of using virtual reality in training situations where safety is a factor have been established in defense and industry, but have not been demonstrated in rehabilitation.
DESIGN/METHODS: Cohort is thirty subjects with Traumatic Brain Injury receiving comprehensive rehabilitation services at the Transitional Learning Center at Galveston. An immersive virtual kitchen was developed in which a meal preparation task involving multiple steps could be performed. The prototype was tested using subjects who completed the task twice within 7 days.
RESULTS: The stability of performance was estimated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). The ICC value for total performance based on all steps involved in the meal preparation task was .73. When three items with low variance were removed the ICC improved to .81. Little evidence of vestibular optical side effects was noted in the subjects tested.
CONCLUSION: Adequate initial reliability exists to continue development of the environment as an assessment and training prototype for persons with brain injury.
SUPPORTED BY: The Transitional Learning Center at Galveston, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, LinCom Corporation, Fillingame Industries, the Moody Foundation, the Moody Endowment and the James S. MacDonnell Foundation.
