Virtual reality roleplays for patients with depression: A user experience evaluation
Background: Virtual reality (VR) has been used successfully and effectively in psychotherapy for a variety of disorders. In the field of depression, there are only a few VR interventions and approaches. Although simple social interactions have been successfully modeled in VR for several mental disor...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Internet Interventions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221478292400006X |
| _version_ | 1797277336893128704 |
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| author | Steffen Holsteg Johanna M. Askeridis Jarek Krajewski Philip Mildner Sebastian Freitag Tobias Müller Sebastian Schnieder Annika Gieselmann André Karger |
| author_facet | Steffen Holsteg Johanna M. Askeridis Jarek Krajewski Philip Mildner Sebastian Freitag Tobias Müller Sebastian Schnieder Annika Gieselmann André Karger |
| author_sort | Steffen Holsteg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Virtual reality (VR) has been used successfully and effectively in psychotherapy for a variety of disorders. In the field of depression, there are only a few VR interventions and approaches. Although simple social interactions have been successfully modeled in VR for several mental disorders, there has been no transfer to the field of depression therapy. VR may be employed for psychodynamic psychotherapy to work on interpersonal conflict patterns. In this study, we developed and evaluated a VR intervention for the simulation of roleplay situations in the context of supportive-expressive therapy. Methods: We conducted a clinical user experience (UX) study at a psychotherapeutic clinic in Düsseldorf, Germany. Eight inpatients with depression and four therapists were included. Semi-structured interviews and qualitative content analysis were used to identify UX issues of the developed VR intervention. Usability questionnaires and technical usage data were also considered. The VR intervention consisted of two therapist-controlled roleplay scenarios designed to support work on the core conflictual relationship theme by allowing patients to interact in typical problematic social situations. Recorded VR roleplays allow for therapeutic debriefing with a change of perspective. Therapists were given the option of using the roleplay in multiple sessions. Results: All therapists conducted one session per patient with the VR intervention. From the patient interviews, 26 UX issues were extracted, of which one technical malfunction and two unclarities in the interaction with the VR agent were rated as major problems. From the therapist interviews, 14 UX issues were extracted, of which five were rated as major problems related to the interface in the dialog control or the complex system setup. Conclusion: The main problem was designing a dialog structure that allows both complex conversational flows and a clear control interface. In principle, VR roleplays could be integrated well and safely into therapy. The VR intervention shows promise for providing an emotional experience of interpersonal conflict patterns in the context of psychotherapy. Additionally, other roleplay situations involving various social problem areas must be created and evaluated in terms of the fit to the patients' core conflictual relationship themes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:46:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-24b3d649bf124b20b6e846b7bf94639b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2214-7829 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:46:13Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Internet Interventions |
| spelling | doaj.art-24b3d649bf124b20b6e846b7bf94639b2024-03-05T04:29:49ZengElsevierInternet Interventions2214-78292024-03-0135100713Virtual reality roleplays for patients with depression: A user experience evaluationSteffen Holsteg0Johanna M. Askeridis1Jarek Krajewski2Philip Mildner3Sebastian Freitag4Tobias Müller5Sebastian Schnieder6Annika Gieselmann7André Karger8Clinical Institute of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Moorenstrasse 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany; Corresponding author at: Clinical Institute of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Moorenstrasse 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.Clinical Institute of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Moorenstrasse 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf, GermanyInstitute of Experimental Psychophysiology GmbH, Gustav-Poensgen-Strasse 29, D-40215 Düsseldorf, GermanyNuromedia GmbH, Schaafenstrasse 25, D-50676 Cologne, GermanyNuromedia GmbH, Schaafenstrasse 25, D-50676 Cologne, GermanyClinical Institute of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Moorenstrasse 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf, GermanyInstitute of Experimental Psychophysiology GmbH, Gustav-Poensgen-Strasse 29, D-40215 Düsseldorf, GermanyDepartment of Clinical Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Universitätsstrasse 1, D-40225 Düsseldorf, GermanyClinical Institute of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Moorenstrasse 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf, GermanyBackground: Virtual reality (VR) has been used successfully and effectively in psychotherapy for a variety of disorders. In the field of depression, there are only a few VR interventions and approaches. Although simple social interactions have been successfully modeled in VR for several mental disorders, there has been no transfer to the field of depression therapy. VR may be employed for psychodynamic psychotherapy to work on interpersonal conflict patterns. In this study, we developed and evaluated a VR intervention for the simulation of roleplay situations in the context of supportive-expressive therapy. Methods: We conducted a clinical user experience (UX) study at a psychotherapeutic clinic in Düsseldorf, Germany. Eight inpatients with depression and four therapists were included. Semi-structured interviews and qualitative content analysis were used to identify UX issues of the developed VR intervention. Usability questionnaires and technical usage data were also considered. The VR intervention consisted of two therapist-controlled roleplay scenarios designed to support work on the core conflictual relationship theme by allowing patients to interact in typical problematic social situations. Recorded VR roleplays allow for therapeutic debriefing with a change of perspective. Therapists were given the option of using the roleplay in multiple sessions. Results: All therapists conducted one session per patient with the VR intervention. From the patient interviews, 26 UX issues were extracted, of which one technical malfunction and two unclarities in the interaction with the VR agent were rated as major problems. From the therapist interviews, 14 UX issues were extracted, of which five were rated as major problems related to the interface in the dialog control or the complex system setup. Conclusion: The main problem was designing a dialog structure that allows both complex conversational flows and a clear control interface. In principle, VR roleplays could be integrated well and safely into therapy. The VR intervention shows promise for providing an emotional experience of interpersonal conflict patterns in the context of psychotherapy. Additionally, other roleplay situations involving various social problem areas must be created and evaluated in terms of the fit to the patients' core conflictual relationship themes.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221478292400006XVirtual realityDepressionPsychodynamic psychotherapyUser experienceRoleplayInterpersonal conflict |
| spellingShingle | Steffen Holsteg Johanna M. Askeridis Jarek Krajewski Philip Mildner Sebastian Freitag Tobias Müller Sebastian Schnieder Annika Gieselmann André Karger Virtual reality roleplays for patients with depression: A user experience evaluation Internet Interventions Virtual reality Depression Psychodynamic psychotherapy User experience Roleplay Interpersonal conflict |
| title | Virtual reality roleplays for patients with depression: A user experience evaluation |
| title_full | Virtual reality roleplays for patients with depression: A user experience evaluation |
| title_fullStr | Virtual reality roleplays for patients with depression: A user experience evaluation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Virtual reality roleplays for patients with depression: A user experience evaluation |
| title_short | Virtual reality roleplays for patients with depression: A user experience evaluation |
| title_sort | virtual reality roleplays for patients with depression a user experience evaluation |
| topic | Virtual reality Depression Psychodynamic psychotherapy User experience Roleplay Interpersonal conflict |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221478292400006X |
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