WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE: Scaling empathy through patient-centred Affective Touch

“** 扩大接触距离 **：通过以患者为中心的情感接触来扩展同理心”是一个可行性研究项目，旨在响应创新英国竞赛：_Minimal延展实境（XR）数字心理健康：第1链\。通过这项可行性研究，ZU-UK将探索XR内部远程触摸同步的潜力。（基于统一的平台）使用低成本设备来解决目前数字心理健康治疗所提供的重大差距。指导 ** 消除接触距离 ** 可行性研究的关键问题是：* 我们可以通过哪些方式将沉浸式技术应用于一对一护理背景下的心理健康和福祉治疗，更具体地说，当患者在家或卧床时？*与皮肤对皮肤的人类情感触摸相比，远程触摸同步、触觉触摸和360º视频的组合能否提供类似的心理健康益处？*哪些创造性的健康合作伙伴关系可以为培训和治疗解决方案的支持交付提供理想的环境？是什么让这个项目创新是独特的方法组合（创意，技术，合作伙伴关系，培训），以解决数字心理健康治疗市场中尚未解决的重大差距：触摸在医疗保健中无可争议的积极作用。这项可行性研究将支持决策过程，使ZU-UK，其跨行业顾问和经验丰富的团队能够揭示项目的优势，劣势，ZU-UK成立于2001年，是一家以残疾人为主导，全球多数人为主导，女性为主导的屡获殊荣的独立戏剧和数字艺术公司，总部位于利物浦和东伦敦。在Jorge Lopes拉莫斯和Persis Jadé Maravala之间的艺术合作伙伴关系的推动下，ZU-UK使用表演，游戏和技术创造互动体验。它们可以发生在任何地方，包括在您的手机上，在您的家中，在舞台上，在购物中心或现场。ZU-UK相信人类协作体验的变革力量。我们有目的地为人们提供量身定制的体验，以有趣、意想不到的方式将陌生人聚集在一起，创造另一种现实。最近的成就包括：2022年Lumen奖赢家，2022年IndieCade奖提名人，2021年ABTT首届Stephen Joseph奖赢家，东伦敦创新者（HereEast，Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park），里约热内卢创意产业社会参与创新奖赢家，电子艺术奖赢家（混合艺术荣誉奖），先驱天使奖赢家，并入围总剧院奖，牛津塞缪尔贝克特信托，空间奖和数字文化奖的创新提名。

'**WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE**: Scaling empathy through patient-centred Affective Touch' is a feasibility study project responding to the Innovate UK competition: _Mindset extended reality (XR) for digital mental health: strand 1\._Through this feasibility study, ZU-UK will explore the potential of remote touch synchronisation within XR (Unity-based Platform) using low-cost devices to address significant gaps in what is currently offered by digital mental health therapies.The key questions guiding the **WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE** feasibility study are:* In what ways can we apply immersive technologies to the delivery of mental health and wellbeing therapies within the context of one-on-one care, more specifically when patients are home bound or bed bound?* Can the combination of remote touch synchronisation, haptic touch and 360º video provide similar mental health benefits when compared with skin-to-skin human affective touch?* Which creative health partnerships can offer the ideal settings for the supported delivery of both training and therapy solutions?What makes this project innovative is the unique combination of approaches (creative, technology, partnership, training) to address a significant gap still unsolved in the digital mental health therapies market: the indisputable positive role of touch in healthcare.This feasibility study will support the process of decision making by enabling ZU-UK, its cross-industry advisors and its experienced team to uncover the project's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as well as identifying the resources needed and the prospects for success.Founded in 2001, ZU-UK is a disabled-led, global majority-led, female-led award-winning independent theatre and digital arts company based in Liverpool and East London. Driven by an artistic partnership between Jorge Lopes Ramos and Persis Jadé Maravala, ZU-UK creates interactive experiences using performance, games, and technology. They can happen anywhere including on your phone, in your house, on a stage, in a shopping mall or a field. ZU-UK believes in the transformative power of collaborative human experience. We set out to purposefully give people tailor-made experiences that bring strangers together in playful, unexpected ways to create alternative realities.Recent achievements include: Lumen Prize Winner 2022, IndieCade Award Nominee 2022, Winner of ABTT's inaugural Stephen Joseph Award 2021, East London Innovators (HereEast, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park), Winner of Rio de Janeiro Award for socially-engaged innovation in the creative industries, Winner of Prix Ars Electronica (Honorary Mention for Hybrid Art), Winner of Herald Angel Award, and finalist/nominee for innovation by Total Theatre Awards, Oxford Samuel Beckett Trust, The Space Award and Digital Culture Awards.