Soldier Evaluation of the Virtual Reality Iraq

Abstract

Repeated combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan are resulting in increased rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among military personnel. Although exposure therapy is an effective treatment for this disorder, some personnel do not significantly respond to treatment, possibly due to poor activation of the trauma memory or a lack of emotional engagement during therapy. In addition, some service members do not seek mental healthcare due to treatment stigma. Researchers recently developed a virtual reality (VR) Iraq to attempt to improve activation of the traumatic memory during exposure therapy and to provide a treatment approach that may be more appealing to some service members, relative to traditional face-to-face talk therapy. Initial validation of the application requires an assessment of how well it represents the experiences of previously deployed service members. This study evaluated the realism of the VR Iraq application according to the subjective evaluation of 93 U.S. Army soldiers who returned from Iraq in the last year. Those screening negative for PTSD used and evaluated a VR tactical convoy and a VR dismounted patrol in a simulated Middle Eastern city. Results indicated that 86% of soldiers rated the overall realism of the VR convoy as ranging from adequate to excellent. Eighty-two percent of soldiers reported adequate-to-excellent overall realism of the city environment. Results provide evidence that the VR Iraq presents a realistic context in which VR exposure therapy can be conducted. However, clinical trials are needed to assess the efficacy of VR exposure therapy for Iraq veterans with PTSD.

Enhancing Our Lives with Immersive Virtual Reality

“…This has been widely used with soldiers that had been in Iraq and Afghanistan (Rizzo et al, 2010). Virtual spaces such as virtual Iraq, and in particular virtual navigation, have also been used for assessment and rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury, a lesion also frequent in soldiers (Reger et al, 2009). Assessment tasks and training tasks for rehabilitation often go hand in hand, and thus retraining in topographical orientation, wayfinding, and spatial navigation in VR is often used in cognitive rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury, neurological disorders (Bertella et al, 2001;Koenig et al, 2009;Kober et al, 2013).…”

Clinical Virtual Reality tools to advance the prevention, assessment, and treatment of PTSD

“…The system was the product of both theory-driven design and iterative user-centred feedback cycles with OEF/OIF service members to maximize its credibility/relevance/usability for clinical users. Pre-clinical user-testing was conducted at Fort Lewis, Washington, and within an Army Combat Stress Control Team in Iraq (Reger, Gahm, Rizzo, Swanson, & Duma, 2009). This feedback from non-diagnosed SMs (and later by initial clinical users) provided essential input for an iterative user-centred design process that continues to evolve the clinical VRET system to the current day.…”

Development and Clinical Results from the Virtual Iraq Exposure Therapy Application for PTSD

“…This formative feedback from non-diagnosed Iraq-experienced military personnel provided essential information that fed an iterative design process on the content, realism and usability of the initial "intuitively designed" system. More formal evaluation of the system took place at T2-MAMC from late 2006 to early 2007 [24]. Ninety-three screened SMs (all non-PSTD) evaluated the Virtual Iraq scenarios shortly after returning from deployment in Iraq.…”