Virtual Reality Application for Pain Management: User Requirements

The usage of fully immersive Virtual Reality applications for pain relief is still in an exploratory stage. In consequence there is a need to understand the user perspective and wishes regarding this kind of product. To address this issue, this paper presents quantitative research in order to establish the functional and non-functional requirements of our application. Voluntary response sampling was used for the research (N = 55). The inquiry form contained questions regarding serious game content, eagerness for testing, performance, resource consumption optimization, portability, data security, accessibility. The questionnaire was shared via Google Forms. The answers were collected and interpreted. The study revealed that a significant part of the participants was willing to test the application and that they would use an immersive Virtual Reality application during a normal treatment session if the opportunity is available. As functional requirements, the following were considered important: the presence of animals in game, a bright environment and nature-based background sounds. The following non-functional requirements were considered important: game optimization, portability, data security, accessibility, graphics quality and a short learning curve.