Interreality Research Articles

Interreality in the management of psychological stress: a clinical scenario.

The term "psychological stress" describes a situation in which a subject perceives that environmental demands tax or exceed his or her adaptive capacity. According to the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the best validated approach covering both stress management and stress treatment is the Cognitive Behavioral (CBT) approach. We aim to design, develop and test an advanced ICT based solution for the assessment and treatment of psychological stress that is able to improve the actual CBT approach. To reach this goal we will use the "interreality" paradigm integrating assessment and treatment within a hybrid environment, that creates a bridge between the physical and virtual worlds. Our claim is that bridging virtual experiences (fully controlled by the therapist, used to learn coping skills and emotional regulation) with real experiences (allowing both the identification of any critical stressors and the assessment of what has been learned) using advanced technologies (virtual worlds, advanced sensors and PDA/mobile phones) is the best way to address the above limitations. To illustrate the proposed concept, a clinical scenario is also presented and discussed: Paola, a 45 years old nurse, with a mother affected by progressive senile dementia.

Marketing analysis of a positive technology app for the self-management of psychological stress.

The INTERSTRESS project developed a completely new concept in the treatment of psychological stress: Interreality, a concept that combines cognitive behavioral therapy with a hybrid, closed-loop empowering experience bridging real and virtual worlds. This model provides the opportunity for individual citizens to become active participants in their own health and well-being. This article contains the results of the Marketing Trial and analysis of the opinions of individual consumers/end users of the INTERSTRESS product. The specific objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, efficacy and user acceptance of a novel mobile-based relaxation training tool in combination with biofeedback exercises and wearable biosensors. Relaxation was aided through immersion in a mobile virtual scenario (a virtual island) featuring pre-recorded audio narratives guiding a series of relaxation exercises. During biofeedback exercises, a wearable biosensor system provided data which directly modified the virtual reality experience in real-time. Thirty-six participants evaluated the product and overall feedback from users was positive, with some variation seen based on participant gender. A larger market study is now underway to understand if there are cultural variations in acceptability of the device.

Inter-reality in the evaluation and treatment of psychological stress disorders: the INTERSTRESS project.

"Psychological stress" occurs when an individual perceives that environmental demands tax or exceed his or her adaptive capacity. According to the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the best validated approach covering both stress management and stress treatment is the Cognitive Behavioral (CBT) approach. CBT has undergone a very large number of trials in research contexts. However, it has been less efficacious in clinical contexts and it has become obvious that CBT has some failings when applied in general practice. INTERSTRESS is a EU-funded project that aims to design, develop and test an advanced ICT-based solution for the assessment and treatment of psychological stress that is able to address three critical limitations of CBT: a) the therapist is less relevant than the specific protocol used. b) the protocol is not customized to the specific characteristics of the patient; c) the focus of the therapy is more on the top-down model of change (from cognitions to emotions) than on the bottom-up (from emotions to cognitions). To reach this goal the INTERSTRESS project applies an innovative paradigm for e-health - Interreality - that integrates assessment and treatment within a hybrid environment, bridging physical and virtual worlds. On one side, the patient is continuously assessed in the virtual and real worlds by tracking the behavioral and emotional status in the context of challenging tasks (customization of the therapy according to the characteristics of the patient). On the other side, feedback is continuously provided to improve both the appraisal and the coping skills of the patient through a conditioned association between effective performance state and task execution behaviors (improvement of self efficacy). Within this conceptual framework, it is possible to set up and test psychological treatments that could be extended also beyond the traditional research and clinical setting by using more and more emerging mobile technology to deliver real-time interventions during daily activities and ecological contexts.