USER EXPERIENCE EVALUATION OF AN IMAGE-BASED VIRTUAL REALITY SELF-THERAPY TOOL

Abstract

User experience (UX) is essential for the success of interactive products such as virtual reality (VR) applications. VR is a technology or tool in multimedia created to induce user experience characteristics, allowing users to feel a sense of presence and immersion during their interaction with the VR tool. In medicine and health, VR has been utilised to treat psychological disorders with VR exposure therapy. Stress is also considered as a type of psychological disorder. One of the traditional psychotherapy methods for managing stress is Guided Imagery Therapy (GIT). Accordingly, this study proposes an approach for self-therapy using Image-Based VR (IBVR) that applies the GIT technique. With this approach, users with mild and moderate stress levels can undergo the therapy on their own without direct intervention from an actual therapist. This paper focuses on the user evaluation of the IBVR self-therapy tool, highlighting the user experience throughout their navigation in the virtual environment. The results indicate that the IBVR self-therapy tool can provide a good user experience and positively affect the user's psychology in managing stressful situations. Nevertheless, further investigation is recommended to improve the effectiveness and user experience of the IBVR self-therapy.