Wednesday, October 29, 2014

CP Video Gaming

Video Game Review

Design and Evaluation of a Networked Game to Support Social Connection of Youth with Cerebral Palsy
Hernandez, H. A., Ketcheson, M., Scheider, A., Ye, Z., Fehlings, D., Switzer, L., Wright, V., Bursick, S. K., Richards, C. & Graham, T. C. N.
Proceedings of The 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, October 20-22, 2014.
Abstract... DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2661334.2661370

Liberi game was created for youth with GMFCS III to facilitate group game play through making the game easy to join and able to be played by those of differing physical abilities. Because there were no barriers to joining group play (automatic grouping), differences in skill level were managed by oral communication between players and by causing all avatars to move at the same speed (collective feedback). Automatic voice communication facilitated cooperative (and parallel) play. Liberi created a venue for differently-abled youth to 1) interact and 2) game.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Video Games Through Therapist’s Eyes

Qualitative Research Report

Integrating Virtual Reality Video Games into Practice: Clinician’s Experiences
Levac, D. E. & Miller, P. A.
Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 29(7) 504-512, 2013
DOI: 10.3109/09593985.2012.762078

Link to abstract: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23362843

Objective: Physical therapists report on using Wii video games with children with brain injuries.

Process: Six physical therapists were interviewed. Two themes arose "technology meets clinical practice", and "onus is on the therapist".

Outcome: There are benefits and challenges where technology meets clinical practice that call on the therapist to be committed to the technology to implement it successfully. "There is a substantial need for knowledge translation initiatives for clinicians in this area".

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Building a Clinical Videogame Tool

Qualitative Study

"Kinect-ing" with Clinicians: A Knowledge Translation Resource to Support Decision Making about Video Game Use in Rehabilitation
Levac, D., Espy, D., Fox, E., Pradhan, S. & Deutsch, J. E.
Physical Therapy Online, Sept 25, 2014
DOI: 10.2522/ptj.20130618

Link to abstract: ptjournal.apta.org/content/early/2014/09/24/ptj.20130618.abstract

Objective: Virtual reality and active video gaming offer promise yet lack evidence of effectiveness when used in clinical practice. Additionally, clinicians require knowledge translation resources to decide how to use video games in clinical practice. This paper describes development of a clinician’s resource for using Kinect video games in physical therapy.

Method: Sixteen clinicians from four sites completed questionnaires; five physical therapists analyzed the results towards developing a knowledge product.

Findings: "This paper described the process and feedback…for improving and further evaluating the 'Kinecting with Clinicians' resource using the 'Knowledge-to-Action cycle' framework to guide the proposed research methods." Next steps are to put the resource online and evaluate usefulness of online resources in clinical practice.