Badalona Serveis Assistencials
Badalona Serveis Assistencials (BSA) is a public organisation providing integrated health and social care services in the Barcelonès Nord and Baix Maresme area, in Catalonia. BSA has 16 centres and more than 1,400 professionals, serving a population of over 430,000 people.
BSA began applying virtual reality in 2017, initially in the field of mental health and addictions through controlled exposure scenarios for phobias and substance-related disorders. Since then, its use of immersive technologies has expanded to several healthcare, educational, professional development and wellbeing projects.
Current XR-related work at BSA includes clinical and educational applications such as chronic pain management in primary care, perioperative anxiety and pain support, cognitive stimulation, chronic wound care, autism-related interventions, blood donation experience, professional training and staff wellbeing. REDOCVR, for example, is described by BSA as a multidisciplinary psychoeducational programme for patients with chronic pain in primary care that incorporates virtual reality as a complementary tool.
BSA’s contribution to the OpenVerse ecosystem is grounded in real-world healthcare implementation. Its interest is to collaborate with healthcare organisations, research institutions, technology developers and European partners working on safe, useful and sustainable uses of immersive technologies in clinical care, professional education and organisational wellbeing.
BSA develops, implements and evaluates immersive technology projects within real healthcare and social care environments.
Its XR activity includes:
Virtual reality in mental health and addictions
Use of controlled virtual exposure scenarios for phobias and substance-related disorders, active since 2017.
XR for chronic pain in primary care
Implementation of REDOCVR, a multidisciplinary psychoeducational programme for patients with chronic pain that incorporates virtual reality as a complementary tool.
XR for procedural support and patient experience
Use of immersive virtual reality as a non-pharmacological support tool in contexts such as perioperative anxiety and pain, chronic wound care and blood donation experience.
XR for cognitive stimulation and rehabilitation
Application of immersive environments to support cognitive stimulation, neurorehabilitation and functional engagement.
XR for autism-related interventions
Development of immersive tools for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, including educational and therapeutic support activities.
XR for professional training and wellbeing
Use of immersive technologies for clinical education, professional development and emotional wellbeing among healthcare professionals.
BSA can contribute to partnerships as a public healthcare provider, clinical implementation environment, research and innovation partner and real-world evaluation site. Its work is especially relevant for organisations interested in responsible XR adoption, healthcare use-case validation, clinical workflow integration, usability, acceptability and implementation in public care settings.
