=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2779/paper7
|storemode=property
|title=Exploring Visuo-Tactile Embodiment in a Social Virtual Reality Setting with a Physical Wheelchair for Training Empathy Towards Social Disability Barriers
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2779/paper7.pdf
|volume=Vol-2779
|authors=Jeremy Meijer,Nikolaos Batalas
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/tabletop/MeijerB20
}}
==Exploring Visuo-Tactile Embodiment in a Social Virtual Reality Setting with a Physical Wheelchair for Training Empathy Towards Social Disability Barriers==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2779/paper7.pdf
Exploring Visuo-Tactile Embodiment in a Social Virtual Reality
Seing with a Physical Wheelchair for Training Empathy Towards
Social Disability Barriers
Jeremy Meijer
Nikolaos Batalas
164189@edu.nhtv.nl
nikolaos.batalas@gmail.com
Breda University of Applied Sciences
ABSTRACT the extent that they might make use of better-dened components
Interactions of personnel with patients in healthcare settings tend, of VR or AR systems, the extent to which they should be classied
as a norm, to be depersonalized and detached, failing to acknowl- in categories dierent than CR can be debated.
edge that patients seek empathy from their caregivers. Experiential Consequently, it may be sensible to regard VR, AR and CR sys-
learning that allows trainees to understand the subjective experi- tems collectively as existing on a multidimensional spectrum, their
ence of disability can be useful in the education of empathy, but placement on which is determined by the degree to which they
disability is usually portrayed as a private impairment, and most emphasize elements of these paradigms, rather than exclusively
scenarios fail to acknowledge its dimension of social construction. belonging to one.
We plan to investigate the potential of an embodied VR experience, This rest of this text discusses how a very small step could possi-
using a physical wheelchair as a controller in the VR space, to bly be made, in a far bigger problem domain that relates to societal
see whether visuo-tactile VR experiences with social barriers of outcomes in the real world. Nonetheless, it does present a technical
disability enhance empathy in dutch medical students. conguration that combines a physical object used for everyday
mobility, a wheelchair, which is instrumented with sensors (rotary
KEYWORDS encoders) to feed information about movement into a virtual world,
and through tactile actuators, to feed information from the virtual
virtual reality, visuo-tactile embodiment, empathy, wheelchair
world back to the wheelchair operator, and hopefully these aspects
Reference Format: place it on a part of the systems-characterization spectrum that is
Jeremy Meijer and Nikolaos Batalas. 2020. Exploring visuo-tactile embod- interesting to the XR-minded reader.
iment in a social Virtual Reality setting with a physical wheelchair for
training empathy towards social disability barriers. In Cross-Reality (XR)
Interaction, ACM ISS 2020 (International Workshop on XR Interaction 2020).
2 EMPATHY IS IMPORTANT FOR QUALITY
HEALTHCARE, BUT STILL LACKING
Contrary to common assumptions, healthcare isn’t necessarily em-
1 ON CROSS-REALITY AND THIS WORK pathetic. Mainstream thought in the 20th century viewed empathy
The term Cross-Reality (CR) is a classier for system congurations, as a “detached concern” within medicine, of purely intellectual form
where combinations of computational elements such as sensors at best. Engagement with the patient’s emotional needs is not nec-
and actuators, virtual objects, and real objects such as tangible essarily viewed as a core aspect of care [ 3]. However, empathy in
artifacts are placed in various forms of interplay, to create exchanges interactions with patients is increasingly seen as benecial or even
between the real and the virtual world [16]. As such, the design critical to the quality of care [ 26][25]. Patients also tend to appreci-
space for CR is potentially far more vast than Virtual-Reality (VR) ate doctors who demonstrate good empathetic skills, such as being
or Augmented Reality (AR) systems. interested in the patient’s concerns, encouraging communication,
Additionally, there are several exemplary implementations of and helping them with emotional problems [8].
VR and AR systems in domains such as industrial production or As can be expected though, people cannot uniformly be capable
home entertainment, and signicant support for developing new of displaying empathy. The ways in which the empathy of med-
ones in terms of end-user-oriented, reasonably priced hardware ical students uctuates during their years of training is a topic
and software. In contrast, compositions of hardware, software, and under constant investigation, and multiple studies nd it to de-
physical objects that could constitute CR systems, and possible cline, especially during the phase of clinical training [ 13][12][11].
applications for them, are more exploratory and experimental. To The possibility of individuals already starting from a low poten-
tial for empathy could be cause for worry as to what empathetic
Copyright © 2020 for this paper by its authors. Use permied under Creative skills medical graduates might imbue their practice with. Things
Commons License Aribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-Reality (XR) Interaction, ACM ISS 2020, November 8 2020, Lisbon, Portugal can potentially worsen as students transition into the workforce.
They often enter overcrowded institutions, are exposed to experi-
encing depression and anxiety, and often nd themselves in need
of support [2]. The complexities of clinical practice tend to cause
distress [4] and decrease empathy [19]. Given the importance of
International Workshop on XR Interaction 2020, November 8 2020, Lisbon, Portugal Meijer and Batalas
empathy in the provision of healthcare, the topic of empathy train- (SoA), and sense of body ownership (SoB). SoB increases by de-
ing in healthcare trainees and personnel at all stages, is one of grees of sensory correlations, between biological movement and
particular signi�cance. perceived stimulation on an avatar’s body, through visuo-tactile
sensory correlations.
The question of whether there are gains from exposing health-
3 EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING SIMULATIONS care students to social barriers that result from disability, for the pur-
CAN TRAIN EMPATHY FOR DISABILITY pose of teaching empathy, by means of a visuo-tactile VR wheelchair
Experiential modes of learning have shown hopeful promise in experience has not been investigated. Our particular purpose is to
increasing empathetic ability [5]. In experiential learning, learn- examine how a sense of disabled agency, through visuo-tactile
ers are not restricted to a passive role, but processes exist where disabled embodiment, in settings with social barriers within a
learners are directly involved in the experience and re�ect on it. VR/wheelchair experience, a�ects Dutch healthcare students’ em-
Simulations can provide a pathway for experiential learning to pathy. The question to answer is: What are the e�ects of disabled
occur. In the context of disability however, certain designs that visuo-tactile embodiment, compared to disabled non-visuo-tactile
disable participants have been criticized for focusing on negative embodiment, on empathy for disabled people, from a Dutch non-
experiences, and what people cannot do, rather than simulating a handicapped healthcare student’s point of view?
functional disability experience[6]. Unintentionally, they increase We base the e�ort on the following hypotheses:
the perception of otherness in the disabled, and charge interactions
(1) The Sense of Embodiment has a positive e�ect on empathy
with the disabled with feelings of anxiety and threat [6][24].
within VR.
On the other hand, simulations can be used to explore the unique
(2) Higher sense of agency decreases personal distress.
demands that disability places on the realm of experience, and re-
(3) Tactile feedback correlated with visuals positively a�ect the
sponses to those demands. Such simulations allow re�ection on
sense of presence.
the experience„ demonstrate the relationships between the envi-
(4) Higher sense of presence correlates with higher empathy
ronment and individual, enable the participant to accept and see
levels.
disability with compassion, and support positive change of atti-
tudes [7].
5.1 Materials
In scenarios of disability that involve the use of a wheelchair, using
4 SIMULATIONS OF DISABILITY IGNORE ITS
the wheelchair as the actual controller for navigating the VR en-
SOCIAL DIMENSION vironment can be a powerful agent of embodiment. The primary
Promising as simulations of disability may be for teaching em- stimuli considers a VR wheelchair experience, inspired by Hao[10].
pathy, scenarios of disability tend to focus on personal de�cits Additional stimuli will be provided by means of controllers, to al-
(impairments), ignoring the picture of disability in social settings, low for tactile feedback in relation to visuals. The wheelchair will
where disability becomes an impairment by way of social con- be lifted from the ground, to allow rotation of the wheels with-
struction, through such mechanisms as lack of opportunity, and out moving in physical space, and rotary encoders placed on the
discrimination[14]. Such social attitudes can become more limiting wheels will translate wheel rotation into movement within VR.
than physical impairments [18]. Head Movement is tracked, to change the VR viewport accordingly.
However, experiential simulations that do explore disability in Social constraints are simulated based on the conditions by Pivik
society, can provide insight into disability, not presented simply et al. [21] and Barney[1]. These will include The attitudinal barriers,
as a private a�air, but allow the participant to become aware of such as comments an interactions from virtual people, exemplifying
social dimensions like bias, stereotyping, labeling, and interaction attitudes [1] like:
strain [1]. Even brie�y enacted, these experiences allow the partici-
pant to learn more about themselves and the social construction (1) interaction strain
of disability, and “truly gain some insight about what it means to (2) rejection of intimacy
live in society with a disability rather than simply to live in one’s (3) generalized rejection authoritarian benevolence
physical environment with a disability”
5.2 Method
5 A VISUO-TACTILE VR WHEELCHAIR We plan to conduct a randomized, between-subject research design,
to evaluate disabled agency e�ects in VR. The independent vari-
EXPERIENCE AS A TOOL FOR TEACHING able will be the visuo-tactile interaction scenario. Two mediated
EMPATHY conditions will di�erentiate the degree of agency. In one condition,
Virtual Reality (VR) can be a medium for experiential learning sce- visuo-tactile correlations will be present, allowing interaction with
narios [9], where empathy can be fostered and inspired[23]. This the environment and giving greater independence to the user. In
makes VR a promising tool for exploring scenarios that involve the other condition, visuo-tactile correlations are absent, causing
disability [20]. Embodiment is an important design element in VR dependency only on the social environment, emphasizing social
experiences that target empathy [22]. According to Kilteni et al[15], constraints and barriers. The dependent variables are Empathy,
the Sense Of Embodiment has an underlying structure consisting of Sense Of Embodiment, and its sub-components (SoS, SoA, and
three sub-components: sense of self-location (SoS), sense of agency SoB).
Visuo-tactile embodiment in a social Virtual Reality se�ing with a physical wheelchair International Workshop on XR Interaction 2020, November 8 2020, Lisbon, Portugal
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