None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The proposed project is a pilot study that aims to implement virtual realtiy assertiveness training within a socially anxious population. The proposed research examines the feasibility of delivering assertiveness training within a VR environment, alongside examining the effectiveness of assertiveness training in reducing social anxiety and increasing assertiveness using this modality. Based on previous literature on VR and assertiveness, it is predicted that individuals in the virtual reality condition will show a clinically significant reduction in anxiety and increased assertiveness compared to individuals in the control condition.
Interventions
Participants in the experimental group will be able to experience three different assertiveness skills training scenarios within the VR environment. An Oculus VR headset will be worn by participants. Individuals in the experimental group will be briefed about the nature of each scenario through a voice over explaining the scenario and the skills to practice before the scenario commences. Participants will then be directed to interact with virtual character and practice their assertiveness skills
Participants in the experimental group will be able to experience three different assertiveness skills training scenarios within the VR environment. An Oculus VR headset will be worn by participants. Individuals in the experimental group will be briefed about the nature of each scenario through a voice over explaining the scenario and the skills to practice before the scenario commences. Participants will then be directed to interact with virtual character and practice their assertiveness skills. All dialogues are pre-recorded, and participants will all go through the same dialogues to ensure a standardised environment and reduce confounds. The researcher will be able to see the dialogues on the screen during the VR exposure session, whereas participants will only see the VR environment. To ensure an immersive experience, the researcher will press spacebar to present the next line of the scripted dialogue once the participant had given a response until the scenario is completed. The VR exposure session will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete, participants will only be exposed to one single session of the VR exposure. The researchers will be in the room to monitor adherence to the intervention.
Sponsors
ISN Psychology
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Participants with social anxiety will be recruited from the community using a number of inclusionary and exclusionary criteria. Participants must be aged 18 to 65. To ensure a fully immersive virtual reality experience, individuals will be required to self-identified as being proficient in English in order to comprehend the self-training module and dialogues, have normal or corrected to normal vision, as well as normal hearing. In addition, a number of screening tools will be used to determine participant eligibility, details as follows: Motion Sickness Screening - The MSSQ-R will be used to screen out individuals susceptible to motion sickness or simulation sickness. Individuals scoring 13 and above will be excluded due to higher chance of experiencing simulation sickness. Social Anxiety - The LSAS-SR will be used to measure participants’ social anxiety, Rytwinski et al. (2009) indicated a cutoff score of 60 suggest the presence of social anxiety disorder. Therefore, individuals scoring below 60 will be excluded from the study. Assertiveness - In order to test the effectiveness of the assertiveness training module, individuals scoring 20 and above on the RAS will be excluded due to high levels of assertiveness or aggressiveness.
Exclusion criteria
The virtual environment can elicit discomfort, which may potentially confound the results and create transient harm to potential participants. There is also a theoretical risk that VR will induce seizure. Therefore individuals with a history of epilepsy, seizures, motion sickness or simulation sickness will be excluded. The current study also excludes individuals receiving concurrent psychotherapy targeting unassertiveness due to the potential of confounding results.
Outcome results
None listed