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Biomedical subjects

G Riva

Publications and source records attributed to G Riva.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

The mind over the Web: the quest for the definition of a method for Internet research.

Psychology is increasingly interested in understanding the characteristics of the Internet and its effects on people, groups and organizations. However, studying the Internet is not a simple task. First, the Internet is a medium that can be experienced in many different ways. Though a computer and keyboard are usually the mediator of our Internet experience, there are different ways in which users can explore the Internet, present themselves, and communicate using it. Second, the Internet is a social and cognitive space. The handling of information is linked to the activation of psychosocial relationships in which cognitions are elaborated. This happens inside a rather special kind of container--Cyberspace--which tends to rarefy the structural and process features of communication. Third, the Internet experience is always situated in a specific context, even when we are chatting alone in a room. In this sense it can only be fully understood through detailed analysis of the social context in which it happens. Starting from a general three-level model of interpersonal interaction in the Web, this paper tries to define a model of data analysis (Complementary Explorative Multilevel Data Analysis--CEMDA) suited to the constraints of Internet research. The main characteristics of the model are: the focus on different frames and objects for each considered unit of research; the mixed use of quantitative and qualitative tools; and the final integration of results in a general framework.

Cognition↗
PubMed2001

Communication and cooperation in networked environments: an experimental analysis.

Interpersonal communication and cooperation do not happen exclusively face to face. In work contexts, as in private life, there are more and more situations of mediated communication and cooperation in which new online tools are used. However, understanding how to use the Internet to support collaborative interaction presents a substantial challenge for the designers and users of this emerging technology. First, collaborative Internet environments are designed to serve a purpose, so must be designed with intended users' tasks and goals explicitly considered. Second, in cooperative activities the key content of communication is the interpretation of the situations in which actors are involved. So, the most effective way of clarifying the meaning of messages is to connect them to a shared context of meaning. However, this is more difficult in the Internet than in other computer-based activities. This paper tries to understand the characteristics of cooperative activities in networked environments--shared 3D virtual worlds--through two different studies. The first used the analysis of conversations to explore the characteristics of the interaction during the cooperative task; the second analyzed whether and how the level of immersion in the networked environments influenced the performance and the interactional process. The results are analyzed to identify the psychosocial roots used to support cooperation in a digital interactive communication.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

The VEPSY updated project: virtual reality in clinical psychology.

Many of us grew up with the naive assumption that couches are the best used therapeutic tools in psychotherapy. But tools for psychotherapy are evolving in a much more complex environment than a designer's chaise lounge. In particular, virtual reality (VR) devices have the potential for appearing soon in many consulting rooms. The use of VR in medicine is not a novelty. Applications of virtual environments for health care have been developed in the following areas: surgical procedures (remote surgery or telepresence, augmented or enhanced surgery, and planning and simulation of procedures before surgery); preventive medicine and patient education; medical education and training; visualization of massive medical databases; and architectural design for health care facilities. However, there is a growing recognition that VR can play an important role in clinical psychology, too. To exploit and understand this potential is the main goal of the Telemedicine and Portable Virtual Environment in Clinical Psychology--VEPSY Updated--a European Community-funded research project (IST-2000-25323, http://www.vepsy.com). The project will provide innovative tools-telemedicine and portable-for the treatment of patients, clinical trials to verify their viability, and action plans for dissemination of its results to an extended audience-potential users and influential groups. The project will also develop different personal computer (PC)-based virtual reality modules to be used in clinical assessment and treatment. In particular, the developed modules will address the following pathologies: anxiety disorders; male impotence and premature ejaculation; and obesity, bulimia, and binge-eating disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Virtual reality-based multidimensional therapy for the treatment of body image disturbances in obesity: a controlled study.

The main goal of this paper is a preliminary evaluation of the efficacy of a virtual reality VR-based multidimensional approach to the treatment of body image attitudes and related constructs. The female obese patients (n = 28) involved in a residential weight control treatment, including low-calorie diet (1,200 kcal/day) and physical training, were randomly assigned either to the VR treatment or to psychonutritional groups based on the cognitive-behavior approach. Patients were administered a battery of outcome measures assessing eating disorders symptomatology, attitudes toward food, body dissatisfaction, level of anxiety, motivation for change, level of assertiveness, and general psychiatric symptoms. In the short-term, the VR treatment was more effective than the traditional cognitive-behavioral psychonutritional groups in improving the overall psychological state of the patients. In particular, it was more effective in improving body satisfaction, self-efficacy, and motivation for change. The improvement was associated with a reduction in problematic eating and social behaviors. The possibility of inducing a significant change in body image and its associated behaviors using a VR-based short-term therapy can improve body satisfaction in traditional weight reduction programs. However, given that this research that does not include a follow-up study, the obtained results are preliminary.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

A VR-based multicomponent treatment for panic disorders with agoraphobia.

Agoraphobia consists of a group of fears of public places such as going outside, using public transportation and being in public places, which cause serious interference in daily life. Many studies demonstrated the effectiveness of a multicomponent cognitive-behavioral treatment strategy for panic disorder with agoraphobia. The traditional protocol involves a mixture of cognitive and behavioral techniques which are intended to help patients identify and modify their dysfunctional anxiety-related thoughts, beliefs and behavior. Emphasis is placed on reversing the maintaining factors identified in the cognitive and behavioral patterns. We use Virtual Reality (VR) to support Panic Disorder treatment. The preliminary treatment protocol for Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia, named Experiential-Cognitive Therapy (ECT), was developed at the Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab of Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Verbania, Italy, in cooperation with the Psychology Department of the Catholic University of Milan, Italy. The actual version included the efforts of researchers from the Center for Advanced Multimedia Psychotherapy, California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego (CA), USA, and from the Seoul Paik Hospital, Inje University, Seoul, Korea. The goal of ECT is to decondition fear reactions, to modify misinterpretational cognition related to panic symptoms and to reduce anxiety symptoms. The characteristics of the approach will be presented through the description of the clinical protocol.

Agoraphobia↗
PubMed2001

Virtual reality as clinical tool: immersion and three-dimensionality in the relationship between patient and therapist.

VR represents the maximum level of evolution in interaction between man and computer systems. In Clinical Psychology, the virtual cyberspace offers a series of powerful and valid applications for diagnosis and therapy. The qualities that make VR software reliable and particularly useful in the practice of assessment and rehabilitation of certain psychopathological dysfunctions emerge with extreme clarity from the specialist literature. VR constitutes a three-dimensional interface that puts the interacting subject in a condition of active exchange with a world re-created via the computer. The possibility of not limiting the paradigm of interaction in a unidirectional sense represents the strong point of the new technology: man is not simply an external observer of pictures or one who passively experiences the reality created by the computer, but on the contrary may actively modify the three-dimensional world in which he is acting, in a condition of complete sensorial immersion. The nature of this exchange means that the subject feels actually present in this new context. The feeling of "actual presence" is perhaps the peculiar characteristic of this tool and is made possible both by the realistic reproduction of the cybernetic environments and by the involvement of all the sensorimotor channels during interaction. In this paper we focus on the characteristics of the new configuration in the relationship between patient and therapist.

Arousal↗
PubMed2000

Body image and eating restraint: a structural modeling analysis.

Body-image disturbance and its link with eating behaviors are poorly understood and controversial phenomena. The model proposed by Cash (1996) is perhaps the most unified current attempt to analyze this link. Its central features are a separation of historical and proximal influences and the link between body image emotions and adjustive, emotion regulating actions. This model, however, and in particular the link between body dissatisfaction and eating restraint have not been empirically tested. A series of different causal models for directly observed variables (LISREL 7) have therefore been used to determine the soundness of this link in a study of 130 female undergraduates. The goodness-of-fit of the models suggests that a causal link exists. It is clear that body image therapy should be combined with current treatments for obesity and eating disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Virtual reality in telemedicine.

Virtual reality (VR) can be considered as the leading edge of a general evolution of present communication interfaces involving the television, computer, and telephone. The main characteristic of this evolution is the full immersion of the human sensorimotor channels into a vivid and global communication experience. Because telemedicine principally focuses on transmitting medical information, VR has the potential to enhance this function. Particularly, VR can be used in telemedicine as an advanced communication interface, which enables a more intuitive mode of interacting with information, and as a flexible environment that enhances the feeling of physical presence during the interaction. In this article, the state of the art in VR-based telemedicine applications is described. This technology is now used in remote or augmented surgery as well as surgical training, which are critically dependent on eye-hand coordination. Recently, however, different researchers have tried to use virtual environments in medical visualization and for assessment and rehabilitation in neuropsychology. This article also discusses technological, ergonomical, and human factor issues, and specific guidelines are presented for expanding the use of VR in telemedicine.

Ergonomics↗
PubMed2000

Virtual reality as telemedicine tool: technology, ergonomics and actual applications.

This paper surveys the state of the art in telemedicine applications of virtual environments (VEs) and related technologies for health care. The possible use of VEs as telemedicine tool has attracted much interest in medicine. Actually this technology is commonly used in remote or augmented surgery, and surgical training, which are critically dependent upon eye-hand coordination. Recently, however, different researchers have tried to use VEs in anatomic learning and for the assessment and rehabilitation in neuro-psychology. To date, such applications have improved the quality of health care, and later they will lead to substantial cost savings. Tools that respond to the needs of present VE systems are being refined or developed. However, the possible use of VEs in telemedicine is not linked to the solution of technical problems only. In fact telemedicine is not simply a technology but a complex process whose successful exploitation needs significant attention to ergonomics, human factors and organizational changes in the structure of the relevant health service.

Ergonomics↗
PubMed2000

Virtual reality as a new imaginative tool in psychotherapy.

Imagination, experience and memory play a central role in psychotherapy. These elements are fundamental in the life of everyone but also in the etiology of many psychological disturbance. Thanks to Virtual Reality (VR) it is possible to transcend the absolute and relative limits linked to individual potential. The imagines re-created through VR may be more vivid and real than the one that most subjects are able to describe through their own imagination and their own memory. In this chapter we focus the attention on imaginative techniques to find new ways of applications in psychotherapy. We will explore the way VR can be used to improve the efficacy of traditional techniques. VR produces a change with respect to the traditional relationship between client and therapist. Virtual experiences is a third way between "in imagination" and "in vivo" techniques in psychotherapy.

Humans↗
PubMed2000

Net ergonomics: information retrieval in health care domains.

The explosion of Internet-based socio-cultural subcontexts and the possibility, horizontally distributed, of handling information on the Net, are transforming information retrieval in a key topic for psychosocial research. However, describing and analyzing how a huge and complex topic can be discussed in the Net and how people's behaviors and attitudes can be influenced by this discussion, is a very complicated task. The aim of this chapter, is both to point out the limits of traditional approaches to the analysis of information retrieval in complex Internet-based domains, and to propose some advice for a cultural approach to the Net. In particular, starting from the analysis of a specific health care domain--drug abuse--the chapter will try to identify some guidelines for the study of these issues.

Drug Information Services↗
PubMed1999

Virtual reality based experiential cognitive treatment of anorexia nervosa.

The treatment of a 22-year old female university student diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa is described. In the study the Experiential Cognitive Therapy (ECT) was used: a relatively short-term, integrated, patient oriented approach that focuses on individual discovery. Main characteristic of this approach is the use of Virtual Reality, a new technology that allows the user to be immersed in a computer-generated virtual world. At the end of the in-patient treatment, the subject increased her bodily awareness joined to a reduction in her level of body dissatisfaction. Moreover, the patient presented a high degree of motivation to change. The results are discussed with regard to Vitousek, Watson and Wilson (1998, Clinical Psychology Review, 18(4), 391-420) proposal of using the Socratic Method to face denial and resistance of anorectic patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

The use of PC based VR in clinical medicine: the VREPAR projects.

Virtual reality (VR) is an emerging technology that alters the way individuals interact with computers: a 3D computer-generated environment in which a person can move about and interact as if he actually was inside it. Given to the high computational power required to create virtual environments, these are usually developed on expensive high-end workstations. However, the significant advances in PC hardware that have been made over the last three years, are making PC-based VR a possible solution for clinical assessment and therapy. VREPAR - Virtual Reality Environments for Psychoneurophysiological Assessment and Rehabilitation - are two European Community funded projects (Telematics for health - HC 1053/HC 1055 - http://www.psicologia.net) that are trying to develop a modular PC-based virtual reality system for the medical market. The paper describes the rationale of the developed modules and the preliminary results obtained.

Cerebrovascular Disorders↗
PubMed1999

The ergonomics of virtual reality: human factors in developing clinical-oriented virtual environments.

Virtual Reality (VR) is usually described as a collection of technological hardware: a computer capable of 3D real-time animation, a head-mounted display, data gloves equipped with one or more position trackers. However, this focus on technology is disappointing for clinicians interested in developing virtual environments to be used in assessment and therapy. To overcome this limitation this chapter describes VR as an advanced communication tool: a communication medium in the case of multi-user VR and a communication interface in single-user VR. Two are the core characteristics of VR as communication tool: the perceptual illusion of nonmediation and the sense of community. The first characteristic of a satisfying virtual environment is the disappearance of mediation, a level of experience where both the VR system and the physical environment disappear from the user's phenomenal awareness. The second characteristic is the sense of community developed by interaction. Through interaction made possible by multi-user VR, individuals find or form groups that share interests. So, information exchange becomes the carrier for expressing self-concept and eliciting emotional support. Within this view, experiencing presence and telepresence does not depend so much on the faithfulness of the reproduction of 'physical' aspects of 'external reality'--which is also a social production, and not a primitive or 'natural' fact--as on the capacity of simulation to produce a context in which social actors may communicate and cooperate. The consequences of this approach for the design and the development of clinical oriented VR systems are presented, together with the methodological and technical implications for the study of advanced human-computer interaction.

Equipment Design↗
PubMed1998

Obesity, psychopathology and eating attitudes: are they related?

The aim of this study was to verify the link between psychopathological disorders and eating attitude in a clinical sample of 195 female obese subjects. A battery of psychological tests, including the Italian versions of the MMPI2, ASQ and EAT scales were administered to all the patients. We analyzed the link between psychopathological traits and eating attitudes by using both Multiple Regression analysis and non-parametric Segmentation Modeling. The results showed that psychopathological aspects, and depression in particular, are strongly linked to the eating attitude of clinically obese subjects. This is an important result also for therapeutic purposes, as it highlights the need for psychological support in diet therapy to intervene on the psychological perceptions and experiences of the patient.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Experiential cognitive therapy in anorexia nervosa.

The paper details the characteristics of Experiential Cognitive Therapy (ECT), a relatively short-term, integrated, patient-oriented approach that focuses on individual discovery. Its novelty is the use of Virtual Reality, a new technology that could play an important role in clinical psychology, since it enables ECT to address both body experience disturbances and motivation for change, two key topics in the treatment of anorexia nervosa. All the phases of ECT are described with reference to an actual clinical case: a 22-year-old female anorectic patient.

Adult↗