Overview
Type of assignment
Bachelor project (BSc) / Master project (MSc)
Internal or external?
External
How many students possible?
1-2
Own data collection or existing data?
Own data collection
Type of research (qualitative empirical, quantitative empirical, mixed-method, literature review)
Mixed-method
EC
15 - 30 EC
Description
A proper clinical evaluation of a Virtual Reality (VR) game for healthcare is challenging. According to the standards of evidence-based medicine, large prospective randomized controlled trials (RCT’s) are considered the gold standard for evaluating the safety and effectiveness of medical interventions. Due to the rapid evolvement and complex character of a VR game for healthcare, the characteristics of an RCT do not match well with the clinical evaluation of a VR game. It takes time to prepare and execute an RCT with sufficient power and this sets a hold on the development of the VR technology. Among experts, it is acknowledged that there is an urgent need for other research designs to adequately evaluate VR games in daily clinical practice. A research design that potentially would fit to the clinical evaluation of VR games are single case experimental designs (SCEDs). SCED are experimental designs aiming at testing the effect of an intervention using a small number of participants, using repeated measurements, sequential introduction of an intervention and method-specific data analysis. In rehabilitation care the use of this research design is promoted and there are also some examples of VR games clinical evaluated with this design.
By the Dutch company GRIP XR a VR game is developed, this game incorporates cognitive bias modification (CBM) and several therapy enhancements, such as ABC-method, individualization, hot-context, HIIT, and downtime. These enhancements are anticipated to offer an improvement over conventional CBM. The aim of this assignment is to assess the safety and effectiveness of this VR game by means of a SCED. And to research if SCEDs are is the proper research design to assess the safety and effectiveness of VR for healthcare. This assignment can be divided into two parts:
Part 1 – preparation of the SCED (e.g. designing and writing the research protocol)
Part 2 – execution of the SCED (e.g. requitement, data gathering, data analysis and reporting)
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for an enthusiastic bachelor or master student with a background in health science, movement science, physiotherapy, technical medicine or affinity with the evaluation of personalized health technology (such as Virtural Reality). Speaking Dutch and English is required. Experience with qualitative and quantitative research methods is a nice to have, but not necessary.
Supervisors
University supervisor
To be discussed
External supervisor
Stephanie Jansen-Kosterink, PhD
Roessingh Research and Development
University of Twente, BSS Department
Miranda Rommers
GripXR
Contact