- 10.00: Trial lecture
- 12.00: Public defence
The ordinary opponents are:
- First opponent: Associate Professor June Ullevoldsæter Lystad, University of Oslo
- Second opponent: Professor Bruno Bonnechère, Hasselt University, Belgium
- Leader of the committee: Professor Vibeke Helen Telle-Hansen, OsloMet
The leader of the public defense is Head of Department Mari Klokkerud, OsloMet.
The main supervisor is Head of Innovation/Psychologist Sveinung Tornås, The Norwegian Directorate of Health.
The co-supervisors are Professor Anne Lund, OsloMet and Head of Psychology/Professor Marianne Løvstad, Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital and University of Oslo.
Thesis abstract
Persons incurring a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) are often in need of rehabilitation efforts many years after injury. Focus of rehabilitation is often on physical impairments and reports suggests that the need for cognitive training often remain unmet.
A common question asked by persons with TBI is about whether there are cognitive training activities that they can do at home, but there is a lack of knowledge regarding interventions that can be suitable for use in home settings.
The use of Virtual Reality (VR) in rehabilitation has increased over the last decade and multiple institutions in Norway have implemented VR for use with their patients. Still, there are many unanswered questions regarding the effectiveness on cognitive functions and in what degree the possible effects can affect an individual’s everyday life.
Previous research and clinical experience suggest that persons with TBI are able to utilize VR in clinical settings, however, this is not investigated in home-settings. These questions are sought to be answered in this study.
The main aim of the study was to investigate whether VR can be used as a cognitive training method and if the possible effects can be transferred into everyday activities. In addition, the study aimed to explore whether persons with TBI would be able to use VR at home without immediate access to assistance.
How was the study conducted?
The thesis consists of three academic papers. The first one is a randomized controlled trial including one hundred participants with TBI that were placed at random into two groups. The VR-group was asked to play the commercial VR-game Beat Saber, while the control group received non-specific counseling on everyday activities that might affect cognitive functions. The training period was five weeks.
Paper two investigated whether there were factors that influenced the effects found in paper one. The investigated variables measured at baseline were age, years since injury, immersive tendencies, executive function and cognitive abstraction level.
In paper three, individual interviews were conducted with ten of the participants that had finished the VR-intervention. In these interviews, experiences with using VR, and factors that played into incorporating VR into their everyday life at home were explored. Positive and negative experiences the individuals had with using VR as a method of training were also included in this paper.
What were the findings?
Findings show that playing VR can improve the ability to control attention in persons with TBI and that the effects seem to transfer into self-reported everyday executive functions. We found three factors that influence the effect, which were more years since injury, higher immersive tendencies and poorer executive functions before training.
In addition, we did find that participants were able to utilize VR at home without assistance from healthcare professionals. Participants highlighted that the sense of being transported to a virtual world affected their motivation.
What are the implications for the future?
This study shows that playing VR is a motivating and engaging form of cognitive training, that is both effective and feasible for persons with TBI.
The findings provide an evidence base for healthcare professionals to recommend playing VR for persons with TBI in need of cognitive training including those who have lived with their injury for a while.
The fact that there are individual factors affecting the effectiveness of the intervention might be of help to clinicians when choosing what patients should receive what treatments.
