Therapeutic virtual reality in prison

Participatory design with incarcerated women

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12656451
AutoresMelissa Q Teng (0000-0002-3051-0787, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, autor de correspondencia), Eric Gordon (0000-0002-9989-4176, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Año2021
Volumen23
Número8
Páginas2210-2229
Fecha de publicación2021-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaNew Media & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1461444821993131
OpenAlexW3193909965
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas34

Upon release from prison, women face barriers in every step of their journey home, with most reentry services designed for men. With virtual reality (VR) headsets increasingly affordable and normalized as a mental health treatment modality, VR is being adopted by prisons around the United States. We argue that the risks and affordances of VR in this political context necessitate centering those with lived experience as creative agents to avoid designing media that re-traumatizes, reduces the complexities of reentry, and reproduces oppressive prisoner–guard dynamics. This article documents and analyzes the design process of a VR reentry program for a state prison to help incarcerated women practice responding to high-stress reentry situations, prior to their release. The resulting VR prototype draws on therapeutic VR work but takes a community-based participatory design approach. We conclude by discussing the institutional and cultural tensions of implementing a participatory design process in a US state prison system

Affordance · Citizen journalism · Context (archaeology · Criminology · Guard (computer science · Human–computer interaction · Mental health · Participatory design · Political science · Prison · Process (computing · Psychotherapist · Public relations · Sociology · Virtual reality · Computer Science · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Engineering · Psychology · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology