There is a tremendous interest among researchers for the development of virtual, augmented reality and games technologies due to their widespread applications in medicine and healthcare. To date the major applications of these technologies include medical simulation, telemedicine, medical and healthcare training, pain control, visualisation aid for surgery, rehabilitation in cases such as stroke, phobia and trauma therapies. Many recent studies have identified the benefits of using Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality or serious games in a variety of medical applications. This research volume on Virtual, Augmented Reality and Serious Games for Healthcare 1 offers an insightful introduction to the theories, development and applications of virtual, augmented reality and digital games technologies in medical and clinical settings and healthcare in general. It is divided into six sections: section one presents a selection of applications in medical education and healthcare management; Section two relates to the nursing training, health literacy and healthy behaviour; Section three presents the applications of Virtual Reality in neuropsychology; Section four includes a number of applications in motor rehabilitation; Section five aimed at therapeutic games for various diseases; and the final section presents the applications of Virtual Reality in healing and restoration. This book is directed to the healthcare professionals, scientists, researchers, professors and the students who wish to explore the applications of virtual, augmented reality and serious games in healthcare further.

This book introduces state-of-the-art research on virtual reality, simulation and serious games for education and its chapters presented the best papers from the 4th Asia-Europe Symposium on Simulation and Serious Games (4th AESSSG) held in Turku, Finland, December 2018. The chapters of the book present a multi-facet view on different approaches to deal with challenges that surround the uptake of educational applications of virtual reality, simulations and serious games in school practices. The different approaches highlight challenges and potential solutions and provide future directions for virtual reality, simulation and serious games research, for the design of learning material and for implementation in classrooms. By doing so, the book is a useful resource for both students and scholars interested in research in this field, for designers of learning material, and for practitioners that want to embrace virtual reality, simulation and/or serious games in their education.

Medical and technological organizations have recently developed therapy and assistance solutions that venture beyond what is considered conventional for individuals with various mental health conditions and behavioral disorders such as autism, Down syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety disorders, phobias, and learning difficulties. Through the use of virtual and augmented reality, researchers are working to provide alternative therapy methods to treat these conditions, while studying the long-term effects the treatment has on patients. Virtual and Augmented Reality in Mental Health Treatment provides innovative insights into the use and durability of virtual reality as a treatment for various behavioral and emotional disorders and health problems. The content within this publication represents the work of e-learning, digital psychology, and quality of care. It is designed for psychologists, psychiatrists, professionals, medical staff, educators, and researchers, and covers topics centered on medical and therapeutic applications of artificial intelligence and simulated environment.

This volume presents the latest research in Virtual Reality (VR), as it is being applied in psychotherapy, rehabilitation, and the analysis of behaviour for neurological assessment. This book will be of value to anyone already in the field and to those who are interested in the development of VR systems for therapeutic purposes. The contents include: · The latest literature reviews on VR in psychotherapy, psychological wellbeing, and rehabilitation · VR and cognitive behavior therapy · Increasing presence in VR for effective exposure therapy and treatment of anxiety disorders · VR military training for managing combat stress and preventing post traumatic stress · VR, mixed reality systems, and games for stroke rehabilitation · VR systems for improving vision in children with amblyopia · Therapeutic play in virtual environments · Healing potential of online virtual worlds such as Second Life · Neuropsychological assessment using virtual environments · Detailed accounts on how VR systems are designed, implemented, and best evaluated · Discussions of limitations, problems, and ethical concerns using VR in mental and physical therapy

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have long histories in the healthcare sector, offering the opportunity to develop a wide range of tools and applications aimed at improving the quality of care and efficiency of services for professionals and patients alike. The best-known examples of VR-AR applications in the healthcare domain include surgical planning and medical training by means of simulation technologies. Techniques used in surgical simulation have also been applied to cognitive and motor rehabilitation, pain management, and patient and professional education. Serious games are ones in which the main goal is not entertainment, but a crucial purpose, ranging from the acquisition of knowledge to interactive training.These games are attracting growing attention in healthcare because of their several benefits: motivation, interactivity, adaptation to user competence level, flexibility in time, repeatability, and continuous feedback. Recently, healthcare has also become one of the biggest adopters of mixed reality (MR), which merges real and virtual content to generate novel environments, where physical and digital objects not only coexist, but are also capable of interacting with each other in real time, encompassing both VR and AR applications.This Special Issue aims to gather and publish original scientific contributions exploring opportunities and addressing challenges in both the theoretical and applied aspects of VR-AR and MR applications in healthcare.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Serious Games Development and Applications, SGDA 2014, held in Berlin, Germany, in October 2014. The 14 revised full papers presented together with 4 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 31 submissions. The focus of the papers was on the following: games for health, games for medical training, serious games for children, music and sound effects, games for other purposes, and game design and theories.

This book introduces state-of-the-art research on simulation and serious games for education. Based partially on work presented at the 3rd Asia-Europe Symposium on Simulation and Serious Games (3rd AESSSG) held in Zhuhai, China as part of the 2016 ACM SIGGRAPH International Conference on Virtual-Reality Consortium and Applications in Industry (VRACI 2016), it includes a selection of the best papers from both. The book is divided into three major domains of education applications that use simulation and serious games: science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education; special needs education; and humanity and social science education. A valuable resource for researchers and developers in simulation and serious games for education benefit from this book, it also offers educators and professionals involved in training insights into the possible applications of simulation and serious games in various areas.