JMIR XR and Spatial Computing (JMXR)

Virtual Reality (VR) is an emerging technology that provides an immersive user experience and has the ability to distract patients from the negative or painful experiences commonly associated with medical procedures. Bone marrow biopsies are medical procedures where a needle is inserted into the bone and a syringe is used to withdraw the liquid bone marrow. They are performed to diagnose and monitor disorders affecting the blood, often as part of care for hematology and oncology patients.

The emergence of next-generation video see-through head-mounted displays (HMDs), such as the Apple Vision Pro (AVP), has generated considerable interest in the medical field. While preliminary studies highlight AVP’s potential, no controlled study has rigorously assessed its usability for precision-based medical tasks requiring fine motor control and real-world perception.

Visuospatial Neglect (VSN) affects spatial awareness, leading to functional and motor challenges. This case study explores virtual reality (VR) as a potential complementary tool for VSN rehabilitation, offering a novel environment that intends to support therapy outcomes. VSN occurs in approximately 30% of stroke survivors, often presenting as inattention to one side of space. While conventional therapies rely on repetitive motor tasks, VR has emerged as a promising alternative for providing engaging tasks during rehabilitation.

While augmented reality (AR) as a concept is not new it is still an emerging technology with a wide range of applications it could provide value for. In the medical field, AR is becoming ever more prevalent but while it has been applied to various medical tasks it is far from commonplace. Radiological imaging has been suggested as one of these applications and the radiology workflow capacity crisis the UK’s National Health Service is experiencing is a potential opportunity for technology to alleviate pressure. Understanding clinical stakeholders and current systems is important for identifying design opportunities for developing AR to enhance interactions and gain more from radiological images.

Dementia is a progressive neurological disorder affecting cognitive and social functioning, posing challenges for patients and caregivers. Traditional medications often have adverse effects, emphasizing the need for non-pharmacological options like Reminiscence Therapy. Virtual Reality has emerged as a promising tool in dementia care, providing immersive experiences that stimulate memory, enhance emotional well-being, and reduce the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.

Emergency physicians face significant stress in their daily work, adversely affecting patient care and contributing to physician burnout.

The perception–action cycle enables humans to adapt their behaviors by integrating sensory feedback into motor actions. Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) disrupts this cycle, leading to maladaptive motor responses and a diminished sense of agency. FND includes functional seizures, movement disorders, and cognitive impairments, significantly affecting quality of life. Recent advancements in extended reality (XR) neurotechnologies provide opportunities for novel rehabilitation approaches, leveraging visual and haptic feedback to retrain motor control and restore agency in individuals with functional limb weakness.

Virtual reality (VR) could possibly alleviate complaints related to chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP), however little is known about how it affects pain-related variables on an individual level and how patients experience this intervention.

Demands on healthcare services can greatly outweigh capacity. Multifactorial causative factors present great challenges, forcing the NHS to increase efficiency and adaptivity. Concurrently, digital advancements are excelling and long-term plans for NHS sustainability are focusing on the use of technological interventions to benefit patients. As a result, integration of Extended Reality (XR) technology has become an important focus of healthcare research. However, models of how the digital literacy of healthcare workforces can be developed and how front-line staff can be actively involved in the design and development of creative digital interventions are lacking. Such programmes are essential to allow the development and upscaling of digital innovation within the NHS for the benefit of the patients. Such a programme has been developed in the Digital Futures research lab at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, representing one of the first immersive digital technologies research spaces embedded within the NHS. A ‘Digital Deep Dive’ training programme has been developed, allowing local healthcare workers to recognise the possibilities of digital healthcare technologies and supporting them in the evolution of ideas for potential bespoke digital solutions appropriate to their own patient groups and care pathways.

Multidisciplinary team meetings (MDT) are one of the facilitators that enhance knowledge sharing among healthcare professionals. However, organising a face-to-face (MDT) meeting for the discussion of patient treatment plans can be time-consuming. Virtual reality software is widely used in healthcare nowadays to save their time and protect life. Therefore, the use of virtual reality multidisciplinary team meeting (VR MDT) software may help enhance knowledge sharing between healthcare professionals and make meetings more efficient.

Delivering high-quality prehospital emergency care remains challenging, especially in resource-limited settings where real-time clinical decision support (CDS) is limited. Augmented reality (AR) has emerged as a promising healthcare technology, offering potential solutions to enhance decision-making, care processes, and EMS training.

Background: Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a promising tool in health promotion and prevention psychology. Its ability to create immersive, engaging, and standardized environments offers unique opportunities for interventions and assessments. However, the scope of VR applications in this field remains unclear. Objectives: This scoping review aims to identify and map the applications of VR in health promotion and prevention psychology, focusing on its uses, outcomes, and challenges.