I am a product designer from China and received a bachelor’s degree from Guangzhou University. After working in a design company for a year, I realized that I still need to continue to learn and improve my abilities, so I decided to join the MFA in Design.
After two years of study in this program, I improved my knowledge of professional courses and learned about areas that I had not touched-on during my undergraduate education. Among them, courses in virtual reality technology have related directly to my research. Based on my thesis focus, I learned that children with congenital heart disease (CHD) face major medical procedures from an early age. I feel these experiences are terrible for the children, and the psychological pressure before an operation is tremendous. Therefore, exploring ways to relieve their anxiety became a primary consideration for my research.
My design solution involves the creation of an adventure story. First, children are required to read a storybook one week before the operation day. Then, on the day of the operation, they engage in a virtual reality experience prior to receiving anesthesia. This process allows them to smoothly transition to the operating room for the anesthesia induced procedure. The goal is to combine an immersive experience with pre-operative education to reduce anxiety. There are many case studies that explore the application of VR in the medical industry. However, in this case, the difference is that my design combines VR with a storybook that helps children familiarize themselves with the entire story. Because the 2D book and VR experience are very different, the VR experience transports the child from story to reality.
Reduce Anxiety for Children with CHD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xpInOn-Q6E