Post.doc
Per Trads Ørskov
Research Unit for Digital Psychiatry
| Projekt styring | ||
| Projekt status | Open | |
| Data indsamlingsdatoer | ||
| Start | 01.09.2023 | |
| Slut | 31.12.2024 | |
Virtual Reality Aid for Anxiety Disorders (VR8) implementation study and trial clinic
Short summary
The study assesses the process of implementing VR-based therapy for social phobia into clinical routines, by using the ItFits-toolkit. The project gathers data through surveys and interviews, targeting both healthcare professionals and patients to understand challenges and readiness for VR technology in therapy. This approach aims to provide insights into methods for implementation VR-assisted cognitive-behavioral therapy into existing healthcare practices, focusing on real-world application
Rationale
The implementation of Virtual Reality (VR) into therapeutic practices offers a promising avenue for treating anxiety disorders, particularly social phobia. This approach is investigated through the ongoing Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT), VRaid (VR8) - Virtual Reality for Anxiety Disorders, which evaluates the efficacy of combining cognitive-behavioral therapy with personalized VR exposure therapy. This innovative method allows for real-time monitoring and adjustment based on the participant's physiological responses, potentially enhancing traditional therapy outcomes. Building upon this foundation, the VR8 implementation study aims to transition from theoretical efficacy to practical application by establishing a trial clinic. The focus is not on generating new clinical knowledge per se but on exploring the implementation process of the VR8 system into clinical settings. Using a systematic and tailored toolkit, the study seeks to identify the differences in workflows and routines between the RCT and the trial clinic, thereby providing insights into the feasibility and effectiveness of adopting VR-assisted therapy in real-world clinical environments.
Description of the cohort
Participants in this study include both healthcare professionals (psychologists, leaders, administrative staff) affiliated with the VR8 trial clinic and patients diagnosed with social phobia. Patients are recruited through self-referral, where they complete an online questionnaire screening for social anxiety, or through referral from other departments within the psychiatric hospital and general practitioners. Upon screening, eligible patients, aged 18-75 and fluent in Danish, are invited for an in-depth evaluation to determine their suitability for the study based on specific exclusion criteria, including diagnostic criteria for social anxiety and the absence of conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, psychosis, severe depression, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, dementia, epilepsy, concurrent psychological treatment for social anxiety, and recent changes in medication relevant to social anxiety. The study's endpoints focus on assessing the organization's readiness and the normalization of the VR8 implementation process through patient and staff surveys, as well as semi-structured interviews inspired by Normalization Process Theory and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.
Data and biological material
Patients will be invited to fill in questionnaires and participate in an interview dealing with the implementation of the clinic. In the intervies we will collect demographic data including: age, gender, educational background, and employment status Employees fill in questionnaires about the organisation's readiness and the normalization of the implementation every month during the study period and are invited to participate in individual semi-structured interviews. The interviews will have themes based on Normalization Process Theory and Consolidated Framework For Implementation Research.