Several people are contributing to this page, which explains the variety of formats used. Please be patient while we try to get this tidied up, or if you wish to volunteer oversight of this page, please contact a site administrator. We need someone who is comfortable with the Pubmed Citation Format.


Virtual Worlds for Health and Healthcare. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research 2(2): 3D
http://www.jvwresearch.org/index.php?_cms=1248968023
[Complete issue]

Brixey, J.J., Turley, J.P. Second Life and health information. Studies in health technology and informatics 2009 146:725.

Stewart, S., Pope, D., Duncan, D. Using Second Life to enhance ACCEL an online accelerated nursing BSN program. Studies in health technology and informatics 2009 146:636-640.

Hansen, M.M., Murray, P.J., Erdley, W.S. The potential of 3-D virtual worlds in professional nursing education. Studies in health technology and informatics 2009 146:582-586.

Schmidt, B., Stewart, S. Implementing the virtual reality learning environment: Second life.


http://www.jmir.org/2009/2/e17

A Survey of Health-Related Activities on Second Life

Leslie Beard1, BDes; Kumanan Wilson2, MD, MSc; Dante Morra1, MD, MBA; Jennifer Keelan3, PhD
1Centre for Innovation in Complex Care, University Hospital Network, Toronto, ON, Canada
2Department of Medicine, Ottawa Health Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
3Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Corresponding Author:


ABSTRACT
Background: Increasingly, governments, health care agencies, companies, and private groups have chosen Second Life as part of their Web 2.0 communication strategies. Second Life offers unique design features for disseminating health information, training health professionals, and enabling patient education for both academic and commercial health behavior research.
Objectives: This study aimed to survey and categorize the range of health-related activities on Second Life; to examine the design attributes of the most innovative and popular sites; and to assess the potential utility of Second Life for the dissemination of health information and for health behavior change.
Methods: We used three separate search strategies to identify health-related sites on Second Life. The first used the application’s search engine, entering both generic and select illness-specific keywords, to seek out sites. The second identified sites through a comprehensive review of print, blog, and media sources discussing health activities on Second Life. We then visited each site and used a snowball method to identify other health sites until we reached saturation (no new health sites were identified). The content, user experience, and chief purpose of each site were tabulated as well as basic site information, including user traffic data and site size.
Results: We found a wide range of health-related activities on Second Life, and a diverse group of users, including organizations, groups, and individuals. For many users, Second Life activities are a part of their Web 2.0 communication strategy. The most common type of health-related site in our sample (n = 68) were those whose principle aim was patient education or to increase awareness about health issues. The second most common type of site were support sites, followed by training sites, and marketing sites. Finally, a few sites were purpose-built to conduct research in SL or to recruit participants for real-life research.
Conclusions: Studies show that behaviors from virtual worlds can translate to the real world. Our survey suggests that users are engaged in a range of health-related activities in Second Life which are potentially impacting real-life behaviors. Further research evaluating the impact of health-related activities on Second Life is warranted.

(J Med Internet Res 2009;11(2):e17)
doi:10.2196/jmir.1192http://www.jmir.org/2009/2/e17
KEYWORDSUser-computer interface; virtual systems; virtual worlds; Second Life; health education; social and behavioral research; behavioral research; health behavior; health behavior change












Watson, Alice J.,Grant, Richard W.,Bello, Heather, Hoch, Daniel B.
Brave New Worlds : How Virtual Environments Can Augment Traditional Care in the Management of Diabetes.
Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology. v.2:no.4 (2008:July), pp. 697-702.


Citations from PubMed


Citations from Gale's Health and Wellness Resource Center

1. Skiba, DJ
Nursing Education 2.0: second life.
Nursing Education Perspectives 2007 May-Jun;28(3):156-8.


Newspaper articles

Parsons, CherilynSpecial to the ChronicleSan Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, July 13, 2008. page F-1.also online at :
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/11/LVL211GP5C.DTL

Parsons, Cherilyn
Finding health information, community online.
San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, July 13, 2008. page F-6.
also online at :
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/13/LV7M11LR3U.DTL&type= health


Chang, Alvin
Virtual world provides learning ground for KU med students http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/story/705210.html
The KUMC (the University of Kansas Medical Center/School of Medicine) is using Second Life in medical education.
Click on the URL for the article, then click on the education video link (underlined in red).
You will see a brief video of how they're using SL to teach anesthesiology and Physical Therapy students.