JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Military veterans display a higher rate of mental health difficulties compared to the general population and can be considered a hard-to-reach patient population. High rates of anxiety and avoidance as well as practical barriers to accessing treatment can make engagement with in vivo treatments more challenging for veterans. Innovative technologies such as virtual reality (VR) may provide a means of adapting treatments to promote engagement and access.

Objective:

To investigate the feasibility and acceptability of using VR as a delivery method for an exposure-based intervention to help manage avoidance of public spaces in a cohort of military veterans.

Methods:

Thirteen UK veterans receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) received a short exposure-based intervention targeting avoidance of public spaces using immersive VR simulations environments, such as supermarkets and cafes. Qualitative and quantitative measures were used to investigate feasibility and acceptability of VR intervention delivery, with secondary measures of treatment outcomes collected.

Results:

Qualitative data demonstrated VR delivery being widely accepted and tolerated by participants, with largely positive descriptions of the VR experience being beneficial, feeling safe and experienced as realistic. Quantitative outcomes were varied, while avoidance on one measure reduced significantly at follow up, changes were mostly non-significant, potentially reflecting heterogeneity of sample.

Conclusions:

This study provided initial evidence that VR may feasibly and acceptably be used as a method of intervention delivery in military veteran clinical populations. However, further research is needed to investigate efficacy of VR in exposure treatment, comparisons with traditional delivery methods, and the placement of this technology and intervention in overall care pathways.