Gaggioli, A., Cipresso, P., Serino, S., Pioggia, G., Tartatisco, G., Baldus, G., Corda, D., Ferro, M., Carbonaro, N., Tognetti, A., De Rossi, D., Giakoumis, D., Tzovaras, D., Riera, A., & Riva, G. (2014). A decision support system for real-time stress detection during virtual reality exposure. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics,196,114-120. PMID: 24732491.
Virtual reality therapy is used to help patients learn to cope with stressful events. By repeatedly exposing patients to these events, patients can practice applying coping skills learned in therapy. Although virtual reality exposure therapy is very successful, being exposed to upsetting events can be stressful for patients. Clinicians can use biosensors to monitor patients’ stress, but this is very time consuming and difficult. Therefore, the authors created a computerized Decision Support System (DSS) to monitor patient stress levels. To use the DSS, patients are connected to an ECG, an EEG and sit in front of a gesture recognition system similar to the Microsoft Kinect. The DSS first monitors physiological responses and gestures during a training session. Then, patient responses during the exposure therapy are compared to these baseline responses. Using a scale of 0 to 1, the program notifies clinicians of their patients’ stress levels. The DSS may help clinicians’ better monitor patients’ stress and thereby improve the tolerability of exposure therapy.