Development of innovative Training contents based on the applicability of Virtual Reality in the field of Stroke Rehabilitation Erasmus Project

Project Title

Development of innovative Training contents based on the applicability of Virtual Reality in the field of Stroke Rehabilitation

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Health and wellbeing

Project Summary

Neurological diseases such as stroke are a growing disease or pathology in our society. Given that age is one of most confirmed risk factor for neurological disorders, the ageing of the EU population implies a growing number of persons at risk in the next years. Rehabilitation programs based on biomechanical technology systems (BTS) and virtual reality (VR) after stroke demonstrate a clear influence on the patient’s functional improvement. Despite the therapeutic benefits and potential of these methodologies, it is undeniable that their applications are still limited to research, academicals scopes or private rehabilitation clinics. These therapies are mostly unknown by the majority of healthcare professionals. Taking into account such context of Brain4Train project the objective was defined as the development and implementation of an online free access course to assure medical specialist, mainly rehabilitators and physiotherapists, a worthy education and training regarding the applicability of BTS and VR in the treatment of patients after stroke. The project consortium was composed of four partners with interdisciplinary skills to guarantee the achievement of the project objective. Silesian University of Technology SUT (Poland), Instituto de Biomecánica de Valencia IBV (Spain), Fondazione Politecnico di Milano FPM (Italy) were selected to provide the specialist and up-to-date knowledge for the course. FPM was the bridge between the project and a recognized university in biomechanical instrumentation and techniques and has extensive experience in development of online training courses using open source platforms. IBV is the European leading research center focused on biomechanics and its application in medicine. SUT employs biomedical experts conducting research based on VR and Interactive Technologies including “3D Cave”. This is a unique part of laboratory for VR enabling 3D projects interactive visualization with integrated motion capture system.The adaptation of the training contents to the requirements of professionals of rehabilitation medicine was assured with the participation of European Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine ESPRM (Netherlands). ESPRM is an international and a referent institution which represents the rehabilitation field in Europe. Therefore, ESPRM played a key role in applicability of project results. The project lasted 2 years and was divided into 8 WPs. From WP1 to 5 the core of the project was carried out, corresponding to the development of training contents and validation of the online course on using innovative VR and BTS in rehabilitation of post-stroke patients. The work in these WPs resulted with the creation of three Intellectual Outputs IO: -IO1 VET Curriculum that aim was to develop specification and design of the whole model of the e-learning course and that is compatible with ECVET politics, -IO2 Online course integrated in the e-learning platform that aim was to elaborate training contents based on up-to-date knowledge of using VR and BTS for rehabilitation of post-stroke patients and that are available in different forms of representation. -IO3 Final version of the on line courses in English, Spanish, Italian and Polish, that aim was to translate training contents and make them available for a wide international audience.WP6 and 7 were dedicated to dissemination and exploitation of the results respectively. WP8 contained all the activities related to project management.Project results are enriching medical professionals on the optimization of rehabilitation processes in the functional and cognitive environments. This is allowing them to understand and increase the use of VR and BTS and make them capable to upgrade the current rehabilitation methodologies with the new technologies.Brain4train project has a great impact on neurological patients, giving them an opportunity to enhance motivation to perform excercises and perform tasks of daily living with both clinic assistant and at home. This increases the degree of functionality, independence and consequently the quality of life of these patients. Furthermore, promoting a web based open access on-line course complemented with the work-based learning and apprenticeship-type training contributes to get a better standardization and qualifications of target users. This will provide new employment opportunities for them. Bran4Train has positive impact in the participating organizations. The experience of participating in this project contributed to reinforce the internationalization strategy of all partners. Furthermore, partners strengthened their position on this particular field, acting as a reference centre on biomechanical technology and the application of virtual reality among stakeholders. By exploiting the online course, all partners increased and improved their training course portfolio, gaining visibility among target users and potential future customers.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 240979 Eur

Project Coordinator

POLITECHNIKA SLASKA & Country: PL

Project Partners

• INSTITUTO DE BIOMECANICA DE VALENCIA
• STICHTING EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF PHYSICAL AND REHABILITATION MEDICINE
• FONDAZIONE POLITECNICO DI MILANO