虛擬實境自然與都市環境恢復效益—以中高齡與高齡者為對象

Abstract

隨著國際性的人口高齡化，高齡者身心健康的議題漸受重視。時下興起的森林療癒及園藝、景觀治療等學說，倡導接觸自然可提升人類福祉。然而，像是行動不便的人士或是長者們，這些不方便舟車勞頓的族群是否就無法享受這樣的好處？目前日漸普及的虛擬實境技術又提供了在室內重現自然環境的新方式，或許對於這樣的族群有幫助。但目前關於影音∕虛擬自然環境提升生心理效益的研究中，受試者經常是以年輕人為主，分析結果是否能應用到年長者族群尚未見相關研究。有鑒於年長者生理與心理功能與年輕族群不同，又虛擬實境科技對於身體不便之長者應用層面最廣，因此本研究選擇45至64歲的中高齡族群與65歲以上高齡族群（以下合稱中高齡族群）作為研究對象，以虛擬實境呈現自然與都市環境，調查兩種虛擬環境對中高齡族群的生心理恢復效益之影響。 本研究的主要目的為調查虛擬實境之自然與都市環境，對中高齡族群之生理、情緒及注意力表現有何影響，並比較不同虛擬環境下測量值變化的差異。次要目的則是初步探查中高齡以上族群對虛擬實境體驗的感受，瞭解目前高沉浸度之虛擬實境設備，對於提供自然環境恢復效益給該族群是否適宜。 實驗之有效樣本受試者為34人，每人參與二次實驗，分別進行虛擬自然環境或虛擬都市環境的體驗，兩次實驗間隔約一週。兩次實驗中，都會在虛擬實境體驗前後進行生理、情緒、注意力表現的測量。生理測量項目包含心跳速率、血壓、心率變異度（HRV），情緒部分使用盤斯心情量表（POMS），注意力表現部份則使用SART注意力測驗作為測量工具。為檢驗選用的兩種虛擬環境具恢復性環境特質的程度是否在受試者主觀判斷中有所差異，也使用恢復性組成量表（RCS）對虛擬環境進行評分。 研究結果顯示，生理部分之心跳速率、血壓及心率變異度中，僅心跳速率在兩組前後測間有隨時間降低，其餘皆沒有顯著變化，且兩種虛擬環境對生理數值的影響在任一項目上皆未具有顯著差異。情緒方面，POMS量表整體結果符合虛擬自然環境較有益於情緒改善的預想。受試者在暴露於虛擬自然環境後，困惑、疲勞、緊張、沮喪等構面及TMD指數皆顯著降低，表現出情緒改善；暴露於虛擬都市環境後，活力構面顯著下降，疲勞構面顯著上升，表現出情緒惡化、較感到疲憊。兩種環境對困惑、活力、疲勞、憤怒構面與TMD指數的影響有顯著的不同，虛擬自然環境對情緒有較正向的影響。注意力表現部份，SART錯誤次數在前後測間僅有未達顯著水準的微幅降低，且變化量在兩虛擬環境組間沒有顯著差異。在恢復性組成量表的分數上，虛擬自然環境的遠離性、延展性、魅力性與相容性評分皆顯著高於虛擬都市環境。 參與本研究之有效樣本受試者皆有至少一項視覺問題，例如老花或近視，但仍能正常使用虛擬實境。然而值得注意的是，有26.5%的受試者曾在虛擬實境體驗中感到身體不適，不適症狀以頭暈為主。 本研究證實虛擬自然環境對於年長族群確實能在情緒上提供效益，但虛擬實境使用中的舒適性等問題仍需要留意。

The main purpose of this study is to investigate how the natural and urban virtual environment affects the physiological state, emotional state, and attention performance of middle-aged and elderly people. The secondary objective is to investigate how the middle-aged and elderly people feel about their virtual reality experience, and confirm that the current equipment of virtual reality is suitable for providing the restorative benefits of natural environment to them. Thirty-four participants were recruited to the study. Each of them participated the experiment twice, the second time was about one week later than first visit. Each time they experienced one of two different virtual environments (nature and urban）. The measurements of physiological state, emotional state, and attention performance were taken before and after the virtual reality experience. There were heart rate, blood pressure, and heart rate variability（HRV）for physiological indicators, and the Profile of Mood State（POMS）for emotion, and the Sustained Attention to Response Test（SART）for attention performance as the measurement tools. In order to examine wether the quantity of restorative components in two virtual environments was different or not in the participants’ opinion, Restorative Components Scale（RCS）was also been used. The results showed that there was no difference between two vitural environments in their effect on physiological states. In terms of emotions, the overall results of the POMS scale are in line with the expectation that the virtual natural environment is more conducive to emotional improvement. After the exposure to virtual natural environment, the scores of confusion, fatigue, tension, depression, and TMD were significantly lower than before, showing the improvement in mood. After the exposure to virtual urban environment, the score of vigor was significantly lower, and the score of fatigue was significantly higher than before, showing emotional deterioration and feeling exhausted. There was difference between two vitural environments in their effect on the score of confusion, vigor, fatigue, anger, and TMD. Virtual natural environment was more beneficial to people’s emotions than the urban one. In terms of attention performance, there was no significant difference on number of SART errors between pre and post-test, even though the number had decreased slightly in both teams, and there was no difference between two environments in the declining quantity too. The scores of four restorative components in RCS, contained being away, fascination, extent, and compatibility, were all significant higher in virtual nature than the urban. All of participants in the study had at least one visual problem, such as presbyopia or myopia, but most of them still can use VR normally. Despite this, 26.5% of the participants used to experience physical discomfort when they were using virtual reality. Dizziness was the most common problem that they suffered from. Overall, this study confirmed that virtual natural environment can provide emotional benefits for middle-aged and elderly individuals, but the issues of comfort are still need to be aware.