Assessment of depressive symptom severity Mental and Behavioural Disorders
Conditions
Interventions
The study requires one visit per participant, which includes (1) a pre-VR questionnaire battery, (2) a 20–30-minute engagement with a VR environment, (3) and a post-VR questionnaire battery. All parti
Rapid Visual Information Processing
and Trail Making Test.) After a tutorial on how to move around in the environment and how the controllers' function, participants reach the first door and have to complete a cognitive task to move for
Sponsors
Karolinska Institute
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Patients with depression: 1. Aged between 18 and 35 years old 2. Active moderate/severe depressive symptoms (a score > 9 on the PHQ-9 scale) 3. No diagnosis of psychiatric disorders other than depressive and anxiety disorders 4. If on current psychological or pharmacological treatment, treatment is stable since at least 4 weeks Healthy volunteers: 1. Aged between 18 and 35 years old 2. No previous or current diagnosis of mood or anxiety disorder 3. No diagnosis of other psychiatric disorders 4. A score <5 on the PHQ-9 scale
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: 1. Any disease/disability that would impair one’s ability to interact in the virtual reality environment requiring the use of a headset and controllers (e.g., blindness, intellectual disability) 2. Migraine if prophylactic medication is taken
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Performance on four cognitive tasks measured during engagement with the virtual reality environment: 1. Working memory function measured using the N-back task 2. Executive functions and cognitive flexibility measured using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test 3. Processing speed measured using the Trail Making Test Parts A & B 4. Sustained attention measured using the Rapid Visual Information Processing task | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Behavioral outcomes: 1. Number of interactions with objects and explored areas, and time spent in certain virtual rooms measured during engagement with the virtual reality environment 2. Eye-tracking data measured during engagement with the virtual reality environment 3. Physiological response assessed using electrocardiogram (ECG) measured with an electrocardiograph and galvanic skin response (GSR) measured with electrodes during engagement with the virtual reality environment 4. Metacognitive sensitivity measured using a self-evaluation of performance questionnaire during engagement with the virtual reality environment 5. Persistence measured using the number of tries on cognitive tasks during engagement with the virtual reality environment | — |
Countries
Italy
Outcome results
None listed