Front matter

Abstract

UNLABELLED Healthcare delivery systems have been evolving to rely more heavily on technology. There has been a shift in care prevention, diagnosis and treatment which has decreased the importance of traditional methods of care delivery. We have put a great deal of effort into the definition of the structure of the volume and in the sequence of the contributions, so that those in search of a specific reading path will be rewarded. To this end we have divided the different chapters into six main sections: 1. Editorial: This introductory text expresses the position of the Editors - Brenda K. Wiederhold and Giuseppe Riva - about the focus of this year issue; 2. Critical Reviews: These chapters summarize and evaluate emerging cybertherapy topics, including technology-enhanced rehabilitation, Interreality, and Intersubjectivity; 3. Evaluation Studies: These chapters are generally undertaken to solve some specific practical problems and yield decisions about the value of cybertherapy interventions; 4. Original Research: These chapters research studies addressing new cybertherapy methods or approaches; 5. CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS These chapters include case studies or research protocols with long-term potential. 6. Work in Progress: These chapters include papers describing a future research work. For both health professionals and patients, the selected contents will play an important role in ensuring that the necessary skills and familiarity with the tools are available, as well as a fair understanding of the context of interaction in which they operate. In conclusion, this volume underlines how cybertherapy has started to make progress in treating a variety of disorders. However, there is more work to be done in a number of areas, including the development of easy-to-use and more affordable hardware and software, the development of objective measurement tools, the need to address potential side effects, and the implementation of more controlled studies to evaluate the strength of cybertherapy in comparison to traditional therapies. We are grateful to Chelsie Boyd from the Virtual Reality Medical Institute for her work in collecting and coordinating chapters for this volume. We sincerely hope that you will find this year's volume to be a fascinating and intellectually stimulating read. We continue to believe that together we can change the face of healthcare. Brenda K. Wiederhold Secretary General International Association of CyberPsychology Training, and Rehabilitation (iACToR) Giuseppe Riva President International Association of CyberPsychology Training, and Rehabilitation (iACToR).