Antonio Ulloa Severino’s scientific contributions

In the case of training programs for workplace settings, design customization can help trainers to better address trainees’ needs and, at the same time, it can help them build a sense of competence and autonomy. This is particularly difficult when trainees are skeptical because of former failing training experiences. The case study presented here, is about a training program featuring customization design from the pre-training phase throughout the training process, aimed precisely at trainees with previous negative experiences. Eighteen participants (M: 10; F: 8; age average: 55,7) were involved in training senior professionals in the information communication technology (ICT) field, all of them with a history of failed training attempts and a long period of workplace inactivity. In preparation for the training, the trainers gathered information about trainees’ attitude towards training, training preferences, and baseline skills, which determined the training design. During training, feedback and intermediate learning results were considered for fine tuning. Results attested the change of attitude towards training, perceived enhancement of self-awareness, feelings of being part of a community, and successful learning outcomes.

Healthy Ageing represents one of the most crucial topics that our society will face in the next decades, due to the progressive demographic ageing of the population, (e.g., in Italy old-age dependency ratio is estimated to reach 59,7% by 2065). These statistics highlights the need of a new paradigm for active and healthy ageing, as well as a healthcare system able to support elderly population in age-related diseases management. In this work we present Let’s dance, an innovative exergame that aims to provide a new way to deliver physiotherapy for mild or moderate Parkinson’s disease patients. Within the game, the patients are asked to reproduce the choreography proposed, whose dance moves are aimed toward the achievement of specific therapeutic goals (e.g., optimize motor coordination, physical endurance, etc.). The game is part of a broader integrated platform that through sensors and actuators located on a robot device in the clinical environment and on patients themselves, can track in real-time both the game performance and the clinical KPIs and determine the assessment of patient’s therapeutic progress. In this paper we present the first prototype of Let’s dance and a use-case scenario.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders diagnosed in children, for which Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) represents the main standard treatment used worldwide, despite its pedantic approach negatively affects both patients’ engagement and improvement. In this work we aim to renovate ADHD treatment with a new approach for cognitive, behavioral, and emotional patient rehabilitation. Iamhero is a first prototype of hi-tech multisensorial therapeutic environment, that bases its strength on patients physical and emotional engagement, leading therefore to cognitive and behavioral skills improvement. The first results show encouraging improvement in learning skills in patients that have steadily used the system for six months. In this paper we explain Iamhero main features, and the first experimental results obtained.

In the last decades, there has been an exponential growth of the game-based approaches for the development of new healthcare solutions, among which serious games (SGs)—for example, games created for purposes that go beyond the pure entertainment—have a prominent role. However, evidence shows that very often SGs for health do not take into account theoretical frameworks as basis for their development or at least they do not explicitly refer to well-established behavioral theories, whose principles enable to lay the foundation for behavior change adoption. Therefore, there is an increasing need for a more structured use of these frameworks, in order to improve their correct implementation and level of efficacy.

Based on behavioral science assumptions, the main purpose of this study is to validate a theoretical model of the relationship between serious game play, patient empowerment and health-related behaviors. We first hypothesized that serious games for health enhanced patients’ empowerment-related education; second, we expected that gender may influence such an educational model. To test our hypotheses, 124 Italian young diabetics (Mean age = 14.12 years old, SD = 2.14; 59.67% female) were involved in the research study named “Tako Dojo”. After participating to a training session about the use of the serious game for diabetes, they filled in a questionnaire that included several scales of game experience, patient empowerment and adherence-related behaviors. Multiple regression analysis partially confirmed our hypotheses. First, it pointed out that serious game for health directly supported the patients’ empowerment and their therapeutic adherence indirectly. Then, it showed that patients’ gender influenced the game-based patient empowerment. To conclude, some relevant theoretical issues concerning the game-based patient education and practical implications about the game design in the healthcare contexts were highlighted.

Questo contributo mira ad esplorare se e in che modo i serious game per la salute supportano i processi di patient empowerment e i comportamenti di cura. Facendo esplicito riferimento al diabete, ipotizziamo che: 1) l’uso del serious game influenzi positivamente i processi di empowerment dei diabetici; 2) i livelli di empowerment dei diabetici incidano positivamente sui comportamenti di aderenza alla terapia; 3) l’uso del serious game abbia un impatto sulla partecipazione dei comportamenti di cura.Per testare queste ipotesi, 124 giovani diabetici pugliesi (Metà = 14 anni, DS = 2.14) sono stati coinvolti nel progetto Tako Dojo, finalizzato allo sviluppo di un serious game per la gestione del diabete. A seguire l’attività di training d’uso di Tako Dojo, ai partecipanti è stato richiesto di compilare un questionario che indagava la percezione d’uso del serious game, l’empowerment dei diabetici, l’aderenza ai comportamenti di cura e le informazioni sociodemografiche. I dati raccolti sono stati sottoposti ad analisi correlazionali e regressioni multiple. I risultati confermano le ipotesi e inducono a ripensare al ruolo dei serious game nei processi di autogestione dei comportamenti di cura.