A Virtual Reality-Based Cognitive Telerehabilitation System for Use in the COVID-19 Pandemic

José Varela-Aldás, Jorge Buele, Pedro Ramos Lorente, Iván García-Magariño and Guillermo Palacios-Navarro
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José Varela-Aldás: SISAu Research Group, Facultad de Ingeniería y Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación, Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica, Ambato 180103, Ecuador
Jorge Buele: SISAu Research Group, Facultad de Ingeniería y Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación, Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica, Ambato 180103, Ecuador
Pedro Ramos Lorente: Department of Electronic Engineering and Communications, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
Iván García-Magariño: Department of Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Guillermo Palacios-Navarro: Department of Electronic Engineering and Communications, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-23

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed people’s lives and the way in which certain services are provided. Such changes are not uncommon in healthcare services and they will have to adapt to the new situation by increasing the number of services remotely offered. Limited mobility has resulted in interruption of treatments that traditionally have been administered through face-to-face modalities, especially those related to cognitive impairments. In this telerehabilitation approach, both the patient and the specialist physician enter a virtual reality (VR) environment where they can interact in real time through avatars. A spaced retrieval (SR) task is implemented in the system to analyze cognitive performance. An experimental group ( n = 20) performed the SR task in telerehabilitation mode, whereas a control group ( n = 20) performed the SR task through a traditional face-to-face mode. The obtained results showed that it is possible to carry out cognitive rehabilitation processes through a telerehabilitation modality in conjunction with VR. The cost-effectiveness of the system will also contribute to making healthcare systems more efficient, overcoming both geographical and temporal limitations.

Keywords: cognitive impairment; COVID-19; spaced retrieval; telerehabilitation; virtual reality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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