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Using VR technologies to overcome anxiety

09 May 2019 - Published by Evite van Winkoop
The handicap hackathon for people with learning disabilities held in Aalborg in September 2018 resulted in several initiatives where one of them was the use of VR Technologies to overcome social and cognitive challenges provoking anxiety.

Aalborg decided to make a three day design sprint on VR Technologies with young citizens with variable degrees of autism and anxiety issues. The design sprint was limited to three days instead of the normal five days and the amount of hours per session was also shorter than normal to fit the target group.

On the first day the citizens choose to work with three issues: Using public transport (the bus), getting ready in the morning for the days challenges, preparing for exams.

Following with two sprint days, the citizens worked on more detailed issues and they tested a VR prototype that made it possible for the participants to practice the anxiety provoking situations in a well-known and safe environment.

After the three design sprint days we have prototypes ready for further development by the company VR Rehab. We are looking forward to develop workable solutions to the issues chosen by the citizens that will make everyday life easier for them.