The University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee.
Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon.
J Appl Res Intellect Disabil. 2019 Nov;32(6):1446-1452. doi: 10.1111/jar.12637. Epub 2019 Jun 13.
Needle phobias are common in children and adults worldwide. One effective intervention for this phobia is exposure therapy where a participant is gradually exposed to increasing levels of the fear-evoking stimulus while differential reinforcement is applied. This intervention, however, may be difficult to implement with some medical procedures as it may be difficult to obtain unfettered access to medical facilities and equipment for the purposes of exposure. Virtual reality may overcome these obstacles.
In this investigation, the present authors developed a low-cost virtual reality-based exposure therapy which was used with an adult male with autism spectrum disorder and a history of extreme needle phobia. The effectiveness of this intervention was evaluated using a changing criterions design with generalization probes.
The intervention quickly increased the participant's compliance in the analogue training setting and the effects were generalized across settings and behaviours, and maintained over time.
The findings indicate combining virtual reality with exposure therapy may produce an effective intervention for medical phobias. The intervention package may remove barriers associate with traditional exposure therapy and was low-cost which may increase access to the intervention.
在全球范围内，儿童和成人都普遍存在针恐惧症。对于这种恐惧症，一种有效的干预方法是暴露疗法，在这种疗法中，参与者逐渐接触到越来越多的恐惧诱发刺激，同时应用差异强化。然而，对于某些医疗程序，这种干预可能难以实施，因为可能难以不受限制地进入医疗设施和设备进行暴露。虚拟现实可能会克服这些障碍。
在本研究中，作者开发了一种基于虚拟现实的低成本暴露疗法，用于治疗一名患有自闭症谱系障碍且有严重针恐惧症病史的成年男性。使用变化标准设计和泛化探针评估了这种干预的有效性。
该干预措施迅速提高了参与者在模拟训练环境中的依从性，并且效果在不同环境和行为中得到了推广，并持续了很长时间。
研究结果表明，将虚拟现实与暴露疗法相结合可能会产生一种有效的医疗恐惧症干预措施。干预方案可能会消除与传统暴露疗法相关的障碍，而且成本低廉，这可能会增加对干预的接受程度。
