Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, USA.
Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, USA.
J Anxiety Disord. 2019 Jan;61:18-26. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2018.06.006. Epub 2018 Jun 21.
A proposed advantage of virtual reality exposure therapy for anxiety disorders is that people will be less likely to drop out of treatment prematurely if the treatment involves facing one's fear in a virtual world rather than the real world, but this has yet to be empirically tested. The present meta-analyses assess the odds of dropout from virtual reality exposure therapy compared to in vivo exposure therapy, estimate the overall rate of dropout from virtual reality exposure treatment, and test potential moderating variables. The odds ratio meta-analysis indicated that there was no significant difference in the likelihood of attrition from virtual reality exposure therapy relative to in vivo exposure therapy. The overall attrition rate for virtual reality exposure therapy across 46 studies with a combined sample size of 1057 participants was 16%. This rate is slightly lower than other estimates of dropout from in vivo therapy and from cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders. Incorporation of between-session intervention (i.e., homework) was identified as a moderator; specifically, inclusion of between-session interventions in the treatment was associated with better retention. Overall, the findings of the present study indicate that virtual reality exposure and in vivo exposure therapy show similar rates of attrition.
虚拟现实暴露疗法治疗焦虑症的一个优势在于，如果治疗包括在虚拟世界中而不是现实世界中面对恐惧，那么人们提前退出治疗的可能性会降低，但这尚未经过实证检验。本荟萃分析评估了与现场暴露疗法相比，从虚拟现实暴露疗法中退出的可能性，估计了虚拟现实暴露治疗的总体退出率，并测试了潜在的调节变量。优势比荟萃分析表明，虚拟现实暴露疗法与现场暴露疗法相比，退出的可能性没有显著差异。在纳入了 1057 名参与者的 46 项研究中，虚拟现实暴露治疗的总体退出率为 16%。这一比率略低于其他现场治疗和焦虑症认知行为治疗的退出率估计。在治疗中加入治疗期间的干预（即家庭作业）被确定为一个调节因素；具体来说，在治疗中包括治疗期间的干预与更好的保留率相关。总的来说，本研究的结果表明，虚拟现实暴露和现场暴露疗法的退出率相似。
