title: VR-based conversation training program for patients with schizophrenia: a preliminary clinical trial.
abstract: Schizophrenia is a devastating mental illness and is characterized by hallucinations and delusions as well as social skills deficits. Generally, social skills training designed to help patients develop social skills includes role-playing, but this form of training has typical shortcomings, which are largely due to a trainer's difficulties to project emotion. Virtual reality (VR)-based techniques have the potential to solve these difficulties, because they provide a computer-generated but realistic three-dimensional world and humanlike avatars that can provide emotional stimuli. In this paper, we report on a method of implementing virtual environments (VEs) in order to train people with schizophrenia to develop conversational skills in specific situations, which could overcome the shortcomings of or complement conventional role-playing techniques. The paper reports the efficacy of the proposed approach in a preliminary clinical trial with 10 patients with schizophrenia.
authors: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Jeonghun
authors: J
authors: Ku
authors: Kiwan
authors: K
authors: Han
authors: Hyung Rae
authors: HR
authors: Lee
authors: Hee Jeong
authors: HJ
authors: Jang
authors: Kwang Uk
authors: KU
authors: Kim
authors: Sung Hyouk
authors: SH
authors: Park
authors: Jae Jin
authors: JJ
authors: Kim
authors: Chan Hyung
authors: CH
authors: Kim
authors: In Young
authors: IY
authors: Kim
authors: Sun I
authors: SI
authors: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008297:Male; D016730:Program Development; D012559:Schizophrenia; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D014705:Verbal Behavior