The acceptability and feasibility of a novel virtual reality based social skills training game for schizophrenia: Preliminary findings

Abstract

Social impairment is a core feature of schizophrenia that presents a major barrier toward recovery. Some of the psychotic symptoms are partly ameliorated by medication but the route to recovery is hampered by social impairments. Since existing social skills interventions tend to suffer from lack of availability, high-burden and low adherence, there is a dire need for an effective, alternative strategy. The present study examined the feasibility and acceptability of Multimodal Adaptive Social Intervention in Virtual Reality (MASI-VR) for improving social functioning and clinical outcomes in schizophrenia. Out of eighteen patients with schizophrenia who enrolled, seventeen participants completed the pre-treatment assessment and 10 sessions of MASI-VR, but one patient did not complete the post-treatment assessments. Therefore, the complete training plus pre- and post-treatment assessment data are available from sixteen participants. Clinical ratings of symptom severity were obtained at pre- and post-training. Retention rates were very high and training was rated as extremely satisfactory for the majority of participants. Participants exhibited a significant reduction in overall clinical symptoms, especially negative symptoms following 10 sessions of MASI-VR. These preliminary results support the feasibility and acceptability of a novel virtual reality social skills training program for individuals with schizophrenia.

Effect of virtual reality on cognitive impairment and clinical symptoms among patients with schizophrenia in the remission stage ： a randomized controlled trial

“…Regarding the clinical symptoms of patients, VRT has been applied in rehabilitation of schizophrenia and showed effect on relieving the symptoms. A study showed patients with schizophrenia exhibited a signi cant reduction in overall clinical symptoms 10 sessions of VR training (33), and social function improved after a VR interview training (34). But in our study, we found VRT only improved the general psychopathology symptoms in patients rather than positive symptoms or negative symptoms.…”

Extended Reality for the Clinical, Affective, and Social Neurosciences

“…Moreover, they found that social skills, communication, and cognitive skills improved with the AR usage [50]. The benefits of using clinical XR are apparent in studies showing that practicing difficult (or individually challenging) social interactions leads to less-anxiety [51,52]. Through the simplification and structuration of everyday social skills, patients can practice social interactions (i.e., finding another to sit with in a classroom) without the anxiety levels and/or fears of rejection that commonly accompany real-world social interactions.…”

The efficacy of virtual reality in the treatment of binge‐purging eating disorders: A meta‐analysis

“…VR technology has been of interest to the psychiatric community as the ability to simulate real‐world situations in a controlled environment holds potential in supporting the therapy of various psychiatric conditions (Freeman et al, 2017). Already, the use of VR has been trialled on patients with post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (McLay et al, 2014), schizophrenia (Adery et al, 2018) and Internet addiction (Zhang & Ho, 2017). While results of studies assessing the efficacy of VR exposure therapy on phobias (Wechsler, Kümpers, & Mühlberger, 2019), PTSD (Deng et al, 2019) and anxiety disorders (Powers & Emmelkamp, 2008) have previously been combined in meta‐analyses, no such analysis has been done on the topic of eating disorders (ED).…”