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This paper describes passenger comfort as an experience generated by the cabin interior features. The findings of previous studies are affirmed regarding a set of 22 context features. Passengers experience a certain level of comfort when these features impact their body and elicit subjective perceptions. New findings characterise these perceptions in the form of eight themes and outline their particular eliciting features. Comfort is depicted as a complex construct derived by passengers' perceptions beyond the psychological (i.e. peace of mind) and physical (i.e. physical well-being) aspects, and includes perceptual (e.g. proxemics) and semantic (e.g. association) aspects. The seat was shown to have a focal role in eliciting seven of those themes and impacting comfort through its diverse characteristics. In a subsequent study, a group of aircraft cabin interior designers highlighted the possibility of employing the eight themes and their eliciting features as a framework for design and evaluation of new aircraft interiors.

Background Virtual reality (VR) technology has been explored in the health sector as a novel tool for supporting treatment side effects, including managing pain and anxiety. VR has recently become more available with the launch of low-cost devices and apps. Objective This study aimed to provide an updated review of the research into VR use for pain and anxiety in pediatric patients undergoing medical procedures. Methods We performed a scoping review. To identify relevant studies, we searched three electronic databases. Two authors screened the titles and abstracts for relevance and eligibility criteria. Results Overall, 1386 articles were identified. In total, 18 articles were included in the review. Articles were published in English between 2013 and 2018. Our review determined that VR technology was being administered in a range of situations to modulate acute and chronic pain or anxiety, needle phobia, and procedural care in children and adolescents. We identified 9 articles that designed the bespoke VR apps. The findings were analyzed to develop a holistic model and describe the product, experience, and intervention aspects that need to be considered in designing such medical VR apps. Conclusions VR has been demonstrated to be effective for managing pain and anxiety in a variety of populations. However, design strategies are limited beyond distraction techniques. We propose future VR interventions to explore skill-building goals in apps characterized by dynamic feedback to the patient and experiential and product qualities that enable them to be active participants in managing their own care. To achieve this, design must be part of the development.

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Background Traditional methods of delivering Advanced Life Support (ALS) training and reaccreditation are resource-intensive and costly. Interactive simulations and gameplay using virtual reality (VR) technology can complement traditional training processes as a cost-effective, engaging, and flexible training tool. Objective This exploratory study aimed to determine the specific user needs of clinicians engaging with a new interactive VR ALS simulation (ALS-SimVR) application to inform the ongoing development of such training platforms. Methods Semistructured interviews were conducted with experienced clinicians (n=10, median age=40.9 years) following a single playthrough of the application. All clinicians have been directly involved in the delivery of ALS training in both clinical and educational settings (median years of ALS experience=12.4; all had minimal or no VR experience). Interviews were supplemented with an assessment of usability (using heuristic evaluation) and presence. Results The ALS-SimVR training app was well received. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed five main areas of user needs that can inform future design efforts for creating engaging VR training apps: affordances, agency, diverse input modalities, mental models, and advanced roles. Conclusions This study was conducted to identify the needs of clinicians engaging with ALS-SimVR. However, our findings revealed broader design considerations that will be crucial in guiding future work in this area. Although aligning the training scenarios with accepted teaching algorithms is important, our findings reveal that improving user experience and engagement requires careful attention to technology-specific issues such as input modalities.

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Background Traditional methods for assessing memory are expensive and have high administrative costs. Memory assessment is important for establishing cognitive impairment in cases such as detecting dementia in older adults. Virtual reality (VR) technology can assist in establishing better quality outcome in such crucial screening by supporting the well-being of individuals and offering them an engaging, cognitively challenging task that is not stressful. However, unmet user needs can compromise the validity of the outcome. Therefore, screening technology for older adults must address their specific design and usability requirements. Objective This study aimed to design and evaluate the feasibility of an immersive VR platform to assess spatial navigation memory in older adults and establish its compatibility by comparing the outcome to a standard screening platform on a personal computer (PC). Methods VR-CogAssess is a platform integrating an Oculus Rift head-mounted display and immersive photorealistic imagery. In a pilot study with healthy older adults (N=42; mean age 73.22 years, SD 9.26), a landmark recall test was conducted, and assessment on the VR-CogAssess was compared against a standard PC (SPC) setup. Results Results showed that participants in VR were significantly more engaged (P=.003), achieved higher landmark recall scores (P=.004), made less navigational mistakes (P=.04), and reported a higher level of presence (P=.002) than those in SPC setup. In addition, participants in VR indicated no significantly higher stress than SPC setup (P=.87). Conclusions The study findings suggest immersive VR is feasible and compatible with SPC counterpart for spatial navigation memory assessment. The study provides a set of design guidelines for creating similar platforms in the future.