Week 2 Flashcards
What technology did early VR use?
Early VR was originally CAVE environments
You go into a room and you are surrounded by screens (nothing attached to the body)
What technology is used now for VR?
Most commonly now, participants are usually fitted with head mounted displays (HMDs) (VR goggles)
Slightly different images sent to each eye – creates illusion of depth
HMDs fitted with head tracking devices – field of vision changes as participant moves
What are some of the uses of VR in psychology?
Exposure therapy (psychology) Used for truama
Clinical training
What are some VR products?
Occulus Rift = $648 US,
Gear VR = $129 US,
Google cardboard VR = $8
What is exposure therapy?
Exposure therapy is most commonly used in the treatment of anxiety disorders. It involves a person being exposed to a feared stimulus (such as an object, situation, or memory) in a structured environment. Exposure usually occurs in a graded manner, such as through the use of a fear hierarchy. The person engages with each feared
stimulus until habituation has occurred or the individual experiences an increase in their self-efficacy to manage anxious symptoms.
Why is in-vivo exposure therapy not used?
Time consuming
Costly
Not practical or feasible
Can be anxiety provoking for the client and clinician
Does VRET work?
VRET is highly effective
- - Several meta-analyses have found VRET to have strong overall effect sizes when compared to non-intervention wait lists
Carl et al, 2019 meta analysis
30 studies across the anxiety and anxiety related disorders
- - Thus people react to VR exposure the same way as they would with a live stimulus
You get the same response from people
Opris et al (2012) meta analysis
VRET is more effective than in vivo for fear of flying because the participant is able to be exposed to various aspects of flying (take off, landing), the experience can be manipulated (add turbulence) and has little financial cost
In VRET, there is a Dose-response effect - the more a person engages in the treatment, the better their result will be
However, there is no difference is dropout rates between in vivo exposure and VRET
There is a preference for VRET
What is a dose response effect in VRET exposure
In VRET, there is a Dose-response effect - the more a person engages in the treatment, the better their result will be
What do you think the possible uses are of a mobile phone in psychology?
Availability/accessibility/reach Ease of collecting data Prompting people for healthy behaviors Ability to access psychology services - immediate support Always available
What Can Smartphones be used for?
Assessment
Intervention
Aftercare
Do SMS reminders increase appointment attendance?
The literiture is mixed
Clough and Casey, 2014
– Results, No significant difference were found between the SMS and no SMS conditions in relation to appointment attendance. There were more client dropouts in the SMS compared to the no SMS condition.
–Conclusion, There were no benefits to SMS appointment reminders
Robotham et al
- -RESULTS. Patients who received notifications were 23% more likely to attend clinic than those who received no notification
- Voice notification more effective
- Conclusion. Yes, notifications work to improve attendance in clinic
However, there is limited research on psychology attendance
Are SMS based Interventions effective for adherence to medications?
Laursen (2010) – young adults received SMS based interventions to reduce cannabis use. They were Provides facts and support/ motivation. Also group rooms for up to 4 to interact, and SMS dialogue with a counsellor.
Another study - SMS as a Standalone treatment to reduce alcohol consumption
- Control group - group therapy for alcohol use
- Intervention group - 6 week intervention through text messages to reduce alcohol use
Results, There were no differences between the two groups
Positives - shows that you don’t need to go into group therapy to get treatment
Negatives - effect size was small. ‘underpowered’
What are the positives and negatives of using apps in psychology?
Positive
- New way of collecting data from people
- Makes it easier to contract your psychologist
- Habit cracking application can build monitoring and self-awareness
- For homework applications can be helpful
- Capacity for self monitoring
- Rewards that keep you going -badge
- Tailored to your experience
Negative
- Subscription fees
- Too broad, not personalised apps
what is PsychAssist?
App designed to be an adjunct to F2F therapy
- specifically the Facing the Fear program
- Used for anxiety disorders
- Three interfaces – client, therapist, and admin
- Main goal – to increase adherence to homework tasks
- Theoretical orientation = unified protocol
However, the effectiveness of the app was unable to be observed because the researchers used a randomised control trial. This was not effective because the app needed revisions, thus it was not possible to combine as group data
Why is there a lack of evidence behind the efficacy of apps in psychology?
RCT (randomized control trials) typically considered “gold standard” test of efficacy – but a lack of congruence with ePsych field
Pace – Ioannidis (1998) – 7.5 years from grant application to publication, 5.5 from initial enrolment to publication.
Riley et al (2013) – 17 years to community implementation
Inclusion/ exclusion criteria (severity, comorbidity, tx history, tx adherence, etc) can lead to validity issues when deployed in community (internal vs external)
- If there is a strong exclusion criteria, it does not represent the population
Does not allow for modification to intervention during trial – but “perpetual beta” (Mohr, 2009)
