Developing a model to evaluate and improve user experience with hand motions in virtual reality environments.

In video games, the evaluation of the user experience (UX) mainly refers to two main groups of aspects, those that refer to the player that is mainly oriented to make the player feel good while playing and those that refer to the video game that is oriented to make the video game easy to understand and play. The aspects considered that are related to the player are engagement, enjoyment, and flow; the aspects related to video game, usability, and dependability. Virtual reality environments today have changed the paradigm in various fields of application, such as health, education, entertainment, among others. Therefore, it is important to observe the effects of handedness with hand movements in virtual reality environments. This work proposes a model to evaluate and improve the user experience considering player and video game aspects, taking into account handedness with hand movements in virtual reality environments. Player and video game aspects can be added to evaluations of the effect of handedness, especially in virtual reality environments, in order to know the user's behavior in terms of skill, performance, and accuracy, among other features by using a particular hand to perform specific tasks. Next, a case study is presented with two groups of users using a virtual reality environment to perform several user tasks considering the dominant and non-dominant hand. By evaluating the user tasks it is possible to know the levels of engagement, enjoyment, motivation, and usability in a virtual reality environment. Finally, an analysis of results is presented in which several improvements of UX are presented.

A Lean UX Process Model for Virtual Reality Environments Considering ADHD in Pupils at Elementary School in COVID-19 Contingency.

Today, the world is experiencing the COVID-19 health contingency, which prevents people from being exposed to one another and restricts physical contact. Under this context, the use of technology has become an essential tool to face the challenges of daily life, and virtual reality can be an alternative in the development of solutions that effectively support the acquisition of learning skills and knowledge transmission through the execution of tasks designed by multi-disciplinary groups. In addition, it can encourage the user to continue with the acquisition of learning skills in a friendly and fun way in a health and education context. This work proposes the use of virtual reality environments as an alternative to support the learning process in children with special educational needs such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other associated disorders that occur in basic education. These proposed reality environments are designed under the Lean UX process model and their contents are designed according to expert therapeutic guidelines. As a result of this proposal, a case study is presented in which the user experience is evaluated through the use of an interactive environment to support the special educational needs of elementary school children attending an educational institution in Mexico.

Efficacy of a cognitive stimulation programme using technology on older adults self-esteem, self-efficacy, and autonomy / Eficacia de un programa de estimulación cognitiva con tecnología en la autoestima, autoeficacia y autonomía de adultos mayores

Abstract The objective of this study was to verify the effectiveness of a cognitive stimulation programme using technology: PESCO MX in comparison to a traditional programme that used nontechnological recreational activities to improve levels of self-esteem, self-efficacy, and autonomy in older adults. In this quasi-experimental investigation, 63 participants were divided into three groups of older adults attending three different senior day-care centres. One group was treated with technology, another without technology, and the third group received no programme. All three groups were measured pre-test and post-test. The results show a significant difference in the three variables between the technology group and the control group; however, there is no difference in the pre-test results. Another finding shows significant differences between the three groups for the self-efficacy variable; differences were also found between the group that did not use technology and the control group. There was also a difference between the group without technology and the group that used the PESCO MX (the latter being higher). In general, a cognitive stimulation programme using technology benefitted self-esteem, self-efficacy, and autonomy, which indicates that this programme can contribute to improving the quality of life during old age. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of this study were analysed.

Resumen El objetivo de este estudio fue comprobar la eficacia de un programa de estimulación cognitiva con tecnología: PESCO MX, frente a un programa tradicional con actividades lúdicas sin tecnología, para mejorar los niveles de autoestima, autoeficacia y autonomía en adultos mayores. En esta investigación cuasi-experimental 63 participantes fueron divididos en tres grupos de adultos mayores de tres diferentes estancias, a uno de ellos se le aplicó el programa con tecnología, a otro sin tecnología y el tercer grupo no se le suministró ningún programa; a los tres se les tomaron dos medidas pretest y postest. Los resultados muestran una diferencia significativa en las tres variables entre el grupo con tecnología y el grupo control, en el pretest no existe diferencia alguna. Otro hallazgo muestra diferencias significativas, para la variable de autoeficacia, entre los tres grupos; es decir, también se encontraron diferencias entre el grupo sin tecnología y el grupo control, además de entre el grupo sin tecnología y el grupo que utilizó el PESCO MX, siendo más alto este último. En general, la autoestima, autoeficacia y autonomía se vieron más beneficiadas a través de un programa de estimulación cognitiva con tecnología, lo que indica que este programa puede contribuir a mejorar la calidad de vida durante la vejez. Finalmente se analizaron las implicaciones teóricas y prácticas de este estudio.

Multidisciplinary production of interactive environments to support occupational therapies.

This work focuses on proposing a multidisciplinary production of interactive environments as a technological support for rehabilitation of people with physical disabilities attending occupational therapy. Nowadays, some technologies and methods are used to develop software in order to assist the people who suffer some kind of physical disability but the physical therapies aren't limited to only one technique of rehabilitation. Current work promotes establish a multidisciplinary team such as therapists and technologists, they can collaborate for the production of interactive environments according the evolution of every patient's rehabilitation. The performance of current proposal is presented throughout a related work and a case study with several usability evaluations.