Isolation in older adults has been a concern for some time and social distancing during COVID-19 has amplified it. In response Embodied Labs created "The Frank Lab", a virtual reality (VR) training program on social isolation for healthcare professionals, family members, and anyone who interacts with older adults.
The restrictions of social distancing for most of this year exposed a majority of us to isolation while it intensified and increased its prevalence for older adults. We thought it was necessary to show how actions and/or inactions can directly affect others, especially the older adults in our society. To us a conversation may be trivial, but for others it could mean so much. Our goal is for people to take action after experiencing The Frank Lab by reaching out to an older adult in their life who they may not speak with frequently, or using the knowledge and insight gained from this lab to improve their future interactions with older adults.
We aim to make strides and improvements with each lab while adding new features to help maximize learning outcomes. The Frank Lab has a branching storyline to increase its replay value and contains the most interactive objects out of our content library. These features combined with our immersive 360 degree filming allowed us to produce our most comprehensive and emotional VR experience so far. The Frank Lab is emotional, thought-provoking, and will generate dialogue
We demonstrated The Frank Lab to some of our subscribers. Here are a few answers we received in our post-assessment:
“Becoming Frank to experience loneliness, grief, and social isolation first hand. Very powerful experience!!! Thank you.”
“I really like there were alternative versions on this module. It really makes you think about social isolation in the elderly community.”
“Module 2 was especially impactful as it more dramatically showed the impact of social isolation on the lives of an elderly person. The background changes were great and realistic in steadily showing Frank's decline. The ending of module 2 was very emotional and thus would be the most impactful for our students’ learning.”
The Frank Lab will be the last content we release for 2020 and our team is excited to share this experience with you. Email us at info@embodiedlabs.com if you’d like to request more information or if you’re interested in receiving a demo.
