Dementia is a general term to describe the impairment of cognitive functions such as memory, thinking, and communication (Townley, 2019). Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2019), about 50 million people in the world have dementia. Doctors diagnose dementia in around 10 million people every year, and 60–70% of these new diagnoses detect Alzheimer’s disease. Several cognitive tests can assess dementia, but recently, researchers have been exploring the potential of new technologies to monitor the condition (Townley, 2019).
A recent study shows how VR can help even those with advanced dementia disease like Alzheimer’s disease. The research was led by Dr. Chee Siang (Jim) Ang, a senior lecturer from University of Kent, and used VR devices on eight patients who were retained in a psychiatric facility (Fischer, 2019).
Each patient used a VR headset. When using it they visited five virtual locations. The patients were able to choose their environment on their own. This could be a countryside, beach or cathedral. When monitoring the patients for 15 minutes they found some interesting results. Next to the monitoring they reviewed feedback from the patients themselves and the caregivers. Ang’s team reported that VR sessions helped the participants recall old memories. This was done by giving them stimuli which could not be achieved normally due to illness or inaccessibility (Fischer, 2019).
This picking up old memories was directly related to the mood of the patients. It had a positive impact on their mood for multiple weeks after the sessions (Fischer, 2019).
“VR can clearly have positive benefits for patients with dementia, their families, and caregivers. It provides a richer and more satisfying quality of life than is otherwise available, with many positive outcomes,” Ang said.
Because the study was small, Dr. Ang points out that larger studies are needed to validate the results, but that the early findings are promising for people with dementia.
As virtual reality videos become easier to produce, the virtual environments could be customized for individual Alzheimer’s patients, with virtual visits to places, such as their home or favorite place, added the researchers (Beingpatient, 2019).
The video below shows some heartwarming VR sessions with dementing elderly.
What do you think? Is VR going to be as a revolutionary solution for dementing symptoms? Are there other computer technologies that can contribute to this?
Fischer, K. (2019) How Virtual Reality Can Help Seniors With Dementia [Online] retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health-news/heres-how-vr-can-help-people-with-dementia
Townley, C. (2019). Is virtual reality the next frontier of Alzheimer’s diagnosis? Retrieved from: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325343.php
Being Patient (2019) Virtual Reality Helps Dementia Patients Recall Memories, Study Says. Retrieved from: https://www.beingpatient.com/virtual-reality-therapy-alzheimers-dementia/
Hi Amyleigh, I really enjoyed reading this post of yours. Having worked with people that suffer from dementia in the past, I know how happy it makes them to revive past memories. However, as most of them tend to develop caution I am asking myself how likely they are to actually put on such a “weird” and new technology?
Hi Wencke! Thank you for your reply. I personally only have been close to people who suffer from dementia while working as a volunteer. I understand your concerns about how likely they are to put on such an unfamiliar product. I hope they find a gradual way to introduce it to the elderly and make them comfortable with it. Maybe family and friends can help them with trusting and using the device.
Hi Amyleigh,
I was immediately intrigued by your topic, since it is one of growing importance that we will probably all have to face at some point in our lives, whether it be among ourselves or our relatives. It is interesting to see that VR can have quite an impact on the overall quality of life of Alzheimer patients. I am therefore very curious to what this technology could offer in the future.
Since this research was conducted to understand the relationship between VR and quality of life for patients, I was wondering if you also thought about other (recent) technologies that could enhance patients’ quality of life or might even help in the race to cure the disease. There are, for example, several kinds of platforms, such as Foldit, that offer games in which players can tackle problems in order to solve real life diseases. A couple of years ago, for instance, a group of gamers uncovered the structure of an enzyme that is involved in the reproduction of HIV. (Scientific American, 2011). It would be interesting to see if such things can also be accomplished for Alzheimer’s disease.
Sources:
https://fold.it/portal/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/foldit-gamers-solve-riddle/