A Virtual Reality-Based Self-Help Intervention for Dealing with the Psychological Distress Associated with the COVID-19 Lockdown: An Effectiveness Study with a Two-Week Follow-Up

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a novel self-administered at-home daily virtual reality (VR)-based intervention (COVID Feel Good) for reducing the psychological burden experienced during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. A total of 40 individuals who had experienced at least two months of strict social distancing measures followed COVID Feel Good between June and July 2020 for one week. Primary outcome measures were depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, perceived stress levels, and hopelessness. Secondary outcomes were the experienced social connectedness and the level of fear experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Linear mixed-effects models were fitted to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Additionally, we also performed a clinical change analysis on primary outcome measures. As concerning primary outcome measures, participants exhibited improvements from baseline to post-intervention for depression levels, stress levels, general distress, and perceived stress (all p < 0.05) but not for the perceived hopelessness (p = 0.110). Results for the secondary outcomes indicated an increase in social connectedness from T0 to T1 (p = 0.033) but not a significant reduction in the perceived fear of coronavirus (p = 0.412). Among these study variables, these significant improvements were maintained from post-intervention to the 2-week follow-up (p > 0.05). Results indicated that the intervention was associated with good clinical outcomes, low-to-no risks for the treatment, and no adverse effects or risks. Globally, evidence suggests a beneficial effect of the proposed protocol and its current availability in 12 different languages makes COVID Feel Good a free choice for helping individuals worldwide to cope with the psychological distress associated with the COVID-19 crisis, although large scale trials are needed to evaluate its efficacy.

Effect of a Virtual Reality-Based Restorative Environment on the Emotional and Cognitive Recovery of Individuals with Mild-to-Moderate Anxiety and Depression

“…Research on rehabilitation of anxiety and depression in virtual reality is very common. Presenting virtual fear stimuli in exposure therapy to treat anxiety, using immersive games to distract patients to relieve their pain, or presenting a natural environment to achieve relaxation [42][43][44] are the most widely used virtual reality scenarios in psychology. These types of virtual reality scenes have not received attention by researchers in meta-analysis so far [45,46].…”

“…Restorative environments have multiple effects of relieving anxiety, pain, and stress. Restorative virtual reality scenes are mostly the natural environment, including natural scenes [47,48] and virtual scenes [43,49]. We used the restorative landscape elements and designed interactive activities (such as fishing, water plants), so participants can not only walk freely to enjoy the environment, but also experience the fun of playing inside it and, thus, can enhance the restorative experience.…”

Investigating the Impact of Isolation During COVID-19 on Family Functioning – An Australian Snapshot

“…Life-crafting interventions help people find meaning in life by actively reflecting on their present and future lives, identifying specific goals, making concrete plans to achieve those goals and managing potential obstacles ( Schippers and Ziegler, 2019 ; de Jong et al, 2020 ). A number of other interventions have also been explored as potential supports during lockdown including Acceptance Commitment Therapy ( Landi et al, 2020 ) and a virtual reality-based self-help intervention ( Riva et al, 2021 ).…”

Virtual Reality Fitness (VRF) for Behavior Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mediation Analysis Approach

“…virtual reality fitness) has been shown to improve the psychological advantages of activity and raise the likelihood of lengthy commitment to exercise by workers and health experts. 26 The trend of using fitness and health apps increased among the Chinese during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic (46.18% February 2019 and 89.28% February 2020). 27 Patients who have conquered COVID-19 may benefit from virtual reality for physical rehabilitation and psychological assistance.…”