Health Literacy Exhibit in SL is True to Life

Brielle Coronet has put up an important exhibit at the Info-lit ischool in Second Life.  It focuses on health literacy and features three quizzes on heart attack, stroke, and medical terminology.  If you finish them correctly, not only will you gain important health information, but you will receive a small prize.  There are also free t-shirts and several informative notecards.  After you've finished taking the quizzes, you can also take an online survey about the exhibit which you are encouraged to do.  Brielle is also presenting about these SL gamesin real life at the MLA Quad in Baltimore on October 14.  This exhibit is part of October's Health Literacy Month.

Health literacy impact all areas of your life, from understanding what your doctor has told you, to reading instructions on a bottle of medicine, to  being aware of signs and symptoms of illness.
Brielle Coronet is a Medical Library Director at a teaching hospital in New Jersey. Her IRB approved research study researches the use of online games to improve health literacy about heart attack, stroke, womens' heart health and commonly used medical terminology and whether the games can impact future health care decisions
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This research study was awarded a National Library of Medicine/ National Institutes of Health Small Projects Grant and was also recognized by the Medical Library Association’s Hospital Libraries Section Award for Research. Brielle has presented at national and international conferences about this study.
 http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/54/30/22



Another exhibit for Health Literacy Month is a Virtual Hallucinations exhibit..  This exhibit allows visitors to discover what it's like to live with Schizophrenia. 

Although the exhibit can be viewed at any time, there are some special exhibit dates and hours that they may be guided:
FRI Oct 12, noon SLT
SAT Oct 13, 4pm SLT
SUN Oct 14 10am SLT

This clinic was built so people who do not have schizophrenia can experience a bit what life is like for those who do have this form of mental illness. It was built by professors and honors students from the University of California, Davis.

Virtual Hallucinations
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sedig/27/44/22

You arrive at the entrance to the clinic. You can click a barrel to get a notecard if you wish. A copy of that notecard is attached here:

Then click a yellow can to get a Hallucinations Badge. It will go into your inventory. You should WEAR the badge before you enter the clinic. It will take a short time to load.

Once you go inside, you can choose to be either a male or female patient, again by clicking another yellow can. The table where you make these choices is also where you can switch off the voices (although a person with schizophrenia is not able to do that, of course!).

When you are ready for the full experience, click the doors to your left and enter the clinic. Look around in all the rooms. Blue cones explain some of the symptoms of schizophrenia.

It is recommended that you go through the exhibit using Mouselook. The researchers also recommended that you go through it alone, but you may feel safer with a friend.

WARNING: Some people find this exhibit deeply disturbing. Please remember that you can stop the voices in several ways:
(1) you can click the yellow can at the beginning or end of the tour, labeled "STOP VOICES"
(2) you can DETACH the Hallucination Badge
and as always
(3) you can turn off Second Life (but the voices will come back when you relog)
(4) you can turn off your computer (but the voices will come back when you relog).

Also, on October 14, the installation "Virginia Alone" by Bryn Oh will open at
11am SLT at Immersiva
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Immersiva/19/128/21

Virginia is over 80 years old, blind, and schizophrenic. She lives alone, far from town in the Canadian countryside. Her mental illness causes her to live in an altered reality.

SL artist Bryn Oh met Virginia over a year ago. Virginia's life was so interesting, Bryn decided to make an art installation exploring her life.

Read more about this remarkable installation here:
http://brynoh.blogspot.com/2012/06/virginia-alone.html

We will not only get a guided tour of the installation, but Bryn will explain all the artistic elements that she derived from spending time with Virginia and Virginia's documentation of her own life.

Presenter Bio:
Bryn Oh is a professional oil painter who has come into Second Life to create new media art ideas that don't work as well in the oil painting medium.

Presentation in text (with optional voice transcription).

It seems health exhibits are alive and well in Second Life.