[nfbwatlk] Yoga Research Study

[Cindy Bennett via nfbwatlk]

Kinect® Eyes-Free Yoga Study

Have you ever wanted to participate more fully in video games? Have
you ever been afraid to go to an exercise class because you cannot see
well enough to understand the exercises? Do you know someone who is
blind or who has low vision? Or, have you ever wanted to play a video
game with no screen? At the University of Washington, researchers are
designing a video game to help people learn to participate in
exercises without needing to see the screen.

Video games that concentrate on exercising are called exergames, and
we have developed a yoga exergame for the Kinect®, called Eyes-Free
Yoga. We are looking for participants who are blind or who have
low-vision and are at least 18 years old to play this yoga exergame
for up to 12 weeks, and give us feedback on the game. We also request
that you are willing and able to perform the yoga poses without risk
to your overall health. You do not have to be an expert at yoga. We
are looking for beginners in yoga for this study. We want to hear from
you!

This will be a 12 week study, where we will provide you the system
containing a Windows laptop, Microsoft Kinect®, and portable speakers.
You will be oriented to the system, where you can perform six yoga
poses. You will be interviewed at the beginning, part way through, and
at the end of the study. Every few days, you will also fill out a
short survey on your experience. This study is confidential. All of
survey and interview responses will be confidential. The researchers
will only receive basic playing data from the exergame. There will be
audio recording for the interviews, but you can tell us if you want
something deleted from our records. At the end of the study, we will
collect the equipment.

The risk involved in this study is that you may not be able to perform
one or more of the yoga poses. If this happens, you should not
continue the pose. Participation is entirely voluntary, and you may
choose to stop the study or to not participate in any part of the
study at any time. You will receive $200 for your participation, with
$50 each month plus $50 for completing the entire study.

If you are interested in giving your valuable feedback to improve the
access of exergames for blind and visually impaired people, please
fill out the interest form online:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Ovt0iv7qIshTrLZUJn5h-o92_OHywD2FUPy4mAXfrUA/viewform?usp=send_form

Please contact Kyle Rector at (503) 449-1736
rectorky at cs.washington.edu or Cynthia Bennett at
bennec3 at cs.washington.edu for any questions. Please note that we
cannot ensure the confidentiality of information sent via email.


-- 
Cindy Bennett
Secretary: National Association of Blind Students

B.A. Psychology, UNC Wilmington
clb5590 at gmail.com