Sometimes you see a news item or a blog post in a stream and you wonder if it’s something that has been rehashed from many moons ago. That was my first thought when I saw the story I’m about to blog about, however after delving further it looks like the real deal.
BCM Momentum, the blog for Baylor College Of Medicine informs us : Online program aims to aid in weight loss for women with physical limitations. The program addresses a very serious issue, as Margaret A.Nosek PHD explains :
If you really want to see something rarer than a vegetarian at a rib cook-off, try looking for a woman in a wheelchair at Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, or 24 Hour Fitness. Why are we such rare birds in these environments?
The answer is simple – these programs don’t really understand what it’s like to try to lose weight when exercising is simply not an option.
Therefore there’s a need for women with physical limitations to share ideas on how to lose weight and of course a good way of doing this is to meetup in small groups to discuss methods that may work. However there are times when physical limitations are problematic for people who may benefit from meeting up in a central physical location, so what better way to address this than via a virtual world :
We are now testing this program with small groups of women who have mobility limitations, but instead of making them deal with all the hassles of coming to one location, we hold our meetings in the virtual online world of Second Life.
Whereas this program is aimed at women in the Houston area, it still shows the power and benefits that a virtual world can bring.
The research is being conducted by the Center for Research on Women with Disabilities (AKA CROWD) and will consist of 16 weekly sessions to discuss and research weight loss for women with physical limitations. Those 16 sessions will take place in Second Life.
Baylor College Of Medicine, and CROWD are not new to Second Life. They have ran a Self-esteem project in Second Life project : Using 3-D Virtual Worlds to Help Women with Disabilities Enhance their Self-Esteem.
The results of that project are interesting, as are the benefits that many of us overlook as we don’t have physical limitations :
CROWD investigators and a team of collaborators created a simulated island environment in Second Life. They adapted the self-esteem program so it could be offered in Second Life and take advantage of its social networking possibilities, the feeling of being present in a new and exciting environment, and the sense of being part of a community. Women who participated in the program could modify their avatars to look like themselves or take on a totally new appearance. It was their choice whether or not to have a disability. Virtual reality also allows some new elements of entertainment that would rarely be possible in real life, such as travel to exotic lands, wild adventures, and risky games.
We’ve seen discussion about this before, that people who have physical limitations can really benefit from an environment such as Second Life, but did the program have any other benefits?
Significant improvements were seen on the measures of depression and self-esteem, with a trend toward significance on selfefficacy but no improvement on social support. The women enjoyed being able to participate in the program from the comfort of their own homes. Most said that doing the workshops in Second Life was just as good as doing them face-to-face, but they wanted more information about each other’s disabilities. Others said they felt freer to express themselves because they were anonymous.
Unfortunately there are some downsides to this sort of research, some women simply did not have the hardware capabilities to participate. Hopefully as technology develops this will not be as big a problem in the future but it’s good to see Baylor College of Medicine, CROWD and their programs embracing technology for their research and to assist people.
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