Publication details
The Journey from Non-Immersive to Immersive Multi-user Applications in Mental Health Care: Systematic Review
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| Citation | |
| Web | https://doi.org/10.2196/60441 |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/60441 |
| Description | Background: Over the past 25 years, the development of multi-user applications has seen significant advancements and challenges. The technological development in this field has emerged from simple chatrooms, through videoconferencing tools to the crea-tion of complex, interactive, and often multisensory virtual worlds. These multi-user technologies have gradually found their way into mental health care, where they are used in both dyadic counselling and group interventions. However, some limitations in hardware capabilities, user experience designs, and scalability may have hindered the effectiveness of these applications. Objective: The present systematic review aimed at summarizing the progress made and the potential future directions in this field while evaluating various factors and per-spectives relevant to remote multi-user interventions. Methods: The systematic review was performed based on Web of Science (WoS) and PubMed database search covering articles in the English language published from Janu-ary 1999 to March 2024 related to multi-user mental health interventions. Several inclu-sion and exclusion criteria were determined before and during the records screening process performed in several steps. Results: We have identified 49 records exploring the multi-user applications in mental health care, ranging from text-based interventions to interventions set in fully immer-sive environments. The number of publications exploring this topic is growing since 2015, with a large increase during COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of digital interven-tions were delivered in a form of video-conferencing, with only a few implementing immersive environments. The studies utilized professional or peer supported group interventions or a combination of both approaches. The research studies targeted di-verse groups and topics, from nursing mothers to psychiatric disorders or various mi-nority groups. Most group sessions happened weekly, or in case of the peer-support groups, often with flexible schedule. Conclusions: We have identified many benefits to multi-user digital interventions for mental healthcare. These approaches provide distributed, always available and afforda-ble peer support that can be used to deliver necessary help to people living outside of areas where in-person interventions are easily available. While immersive virtual envi-ronments have become a common tool in many areas of psychiatric care, such as expo-sure therapy, our results suggest that this technology in multi-user settings is still in its early stages. Most identified studies investigated mainstream technologies, such as vid-eo conferencing or text-based support, substituting immersive experience for conven-ience and ease of use. While many studies discuss useful features of virtual environ-ments in group interventions, such as anonymity or stronger engagement with the group, we discuss persisting issues with these technologies, which currently prevent their full adoption. |