Virtual technology to train social workers to help address mental health needs of veterans

Dec 22 2010

Real-life application of revolutionary virtual technology to train and teach in the classroom will be the focus of the University of Southern California's display and presentations at the Consumers Electronics Show (CES) Jan. 6-10 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.  

The USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT), in partnership with the USC School of Social Work, will be demonstrating its Virtual Patient Avatar and its video-game inspired Virtual Iraq technologies, created by ICT and currently being used by the USC School of Social Work to train and prepare social workers to help address the mental health needs of soldiers returning from war.

"Using virtual technology to train students was not something even on the radar 10 years ago," said Paul Maiden, vice dean of the USC School of Social Work. "With so many soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other problems, we are implementing this technology in the classroom to realistically and more practically train thousands of students on how to treat veterans with these types of mental health needs."

Entering beta testing in School of Social Work classrooms this year, the program is the first application of virtual reality in a social work setting.

"ICT's virtual reality technology allows humans to interact with computers and extremely complex data in a more natural fashion," said Dr. Skip Rizzo, ICT's associate director for medical virtual reality. "Through our research and development, we've been able to take technologies once considered expensive toys and functionally apply them to address real-world problems and situations."

ICT and the USC School of Social Work will be presenting the Virtual Iraq and Virtual Patient technologies at the High Tech U Panel, Thursday, Jan. 6, 12:45 p.m. – 2 p.m. in room N253 of the North Hall, as well as the Living in Digital Times Press Conference at 2 p.m. -2:15 p.m. in room S227 of the South Hall, Upper Level that same day.  From Jan. 6 until the show's closing, attendees at the show will be able to personally experience and test the technologies at the Higher Ed Tech Pavillion located in the North Hall, Grand Lobby, Lower Meeting Room at booth number 3206. Click here to view an interactive map.