Claustrophobia game: Design and development of a new virtual reality game for treatment of claustrophobia

Rahani, Vida Kabiri; Vard, Alireza; Najafi, Mostafa

doi:10.4103/jmss.jmss_27_18

Cited by 24 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The use of simulators in medical education protects patients while offering students a way to develop their skills, knowledge, and confidence, as well as evaluating their performance (Lateef, 2010;Pottle, 2019). Virtual reality therapies (Wiederhold and Riva, 2019) are used in patients with various phobias such as fear of heights (Rothbaum et al, 1995;Seinfeld et al, 2016), claustrophobia (Christofi, and Michael-Grigoriou, 2016;Rahani et al, 2018), fear of public speaking (Nazligul et al, 2017;Takac et al, 2019), social anxiety (Chesham et al, 2018), posttraumatic stress (Botella, Serrano, Baños, and Garcia-Palacios, 2015), and depression (Falconer et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Interaction With Agents and Avatars in Immersive Virtual Environments: A Survey

Kyrlitsias

Michael-Grigoriou

2022

Front. Virtual Real.

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Immersive virtual reality technologies are used in a wide range of fields such as training, education, health, and research. Many of these applications include virtual humans that are classified into avatars and agents. An overview of the applications and the advantages of immersive virtual reality and virtual humans is presented in this survey, as well as the basic concepts and terminology. To be effective, many virtual reality applications require that the users perceive and react socially to the virtual humans in a realistic manner. Numerous studies show that people can react socially to virtual humans; however, this is not always the case. This survey provides an overview of the main findings regarding the factors affecting the social interaction with virtual humans within immersive virtual environments. Finally, this survey highlights the need for further research that can lead to a better understanding of human–virtual human interaction.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Interaction With Agents and Avatars in Immersive Virtual Environments: A Survey

Kyrlitsias

Michael-Grigoriou

2022

Front. Virtual Real.

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“…VR has also been used to expose individuals to VE that can induce postural threats, such as simulated vertical heights [8,9,[25][26][27] and rotating the visual field on the pitch, yaw, and roll principle axes [26,28], that alter center of pressure (COP) dynamics and bodily kinematics and thereby, the overall postural stability. Moreover, VR is identified as a great alternative to expose individuals to different environments they otherwise avoid due to fear [8,29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, exposure to virtual heights increases physical anxiety levels and COP postural sway velocities [8,30]. Recent studies utilized VR to simulate claustrophobic environments to explore the potential therapeutic applications for persons with claustrophobia [29,[31][32][33]. VR has also been used successfully as a rehabilitation and intervention tool for Acrophobia through the virtual reality exposure therapy (VERT) [34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Walls Are Closing In: Postural Responses to a Virtual Reality Claustrophobic Simulation

Chander

Freeman

Hill

et al. 2022

CTN

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Background: Changes in the visual environment and thereby, the spatial orientation, can induce postural instability leading to falls. Virtual reality (VR) has been used to expose individuals to virtual environments (VE) that increase postural threats. Claustrophobia is an anxiety disorder categorized under situational phobias and can induce such postural threats in a VE. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate if VR-generated claustrophobic simulation has any impact on postural threats that might lead to postural instability. Methods: Thirty healthy men and women (age: 20.7 ± 1.2 years; height: 166.5 ± 7.3 cm; mass: 71.7 ± 16.2 kg) were tested for postural stability while standing on a force platform, upon exposure to five different testing trials, including a normal stance (NoVR), in stationary VE (VR), and three consecutive, randomly initiated, unexpected claustrophobia trials (VR CP1, VR CP2, VR CP3). The claustrophobia trials involved all four walls closing in towards the center of the room. Center of pressure (COP)-derived postural sway variables were analyzed with a one-way repeated measures analysis of variance at an alpha level of 0.05. Results: Significant main effect differences existed in all but one dependent COP-derived postural sway variables, at p < 0.05. Post-hoc pairwise comparisons with a Bonferroni correction revealed that, predominantly, postural sway excursions were significantly lower in claustrophobia trials compared to NoVR and VR, but only accomplished with significantly increased sway velocity. Conclusion: The VR CP trials induced lower postural sway magnitude, but with increased velocity, suggesting a bracing and co-contraction strategy when exposed to virtual claustrophobic postural threats. Additionally, postural sway decreased with subsequent claustrophobia trials, suggesting potential motor learning effects. Findings from the study offer insights to postural control behavior under virtual claustrophobic simulations and can aid in VR exposure therapy for claustrophobia.

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“…Claustrophobia is influenced by many factors such as sex, positioning in the scanner, body weight, and the shape of the scanner [ 3 , 5 , 10 , 12 ]. Many techniques such as the introduction of silent gradients, additional light in the bore, special glasses, and virtual reality tools [ 13 ] have been successfully introduced into clinical routine to relieve claustrophobia. Older generation scanners featuring closed, rather narrow, and long bores can trigger a claustrophobic experience [ 11 , 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patient preferences for development in MRI scanner design: a survey of claustrophobic patients in a randomized study

et al. 2020

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Objective To investigate which magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner designs claustrophobic patients prefer. Material/methods We analyzed questionnaires completed by 160 patients at high risk for claustrophobia directly after a scan in either a short-bore or open panoramic scanner as part of a prospective randomized trial Enders et al (BMC Med Imaging 11:4, 2011). Scanner preferences were judged based on schematic drawings of four scanners. Information on the diagnostic performance of the depicted scanners was provided, too. Results A majority of patients suggested upright open (59/160, 36.9%) and open panoramic (53/160, 33.1%) before short-bore designs (26/160, 16.3%, for all p < 0.001) for future development. When asked about patients' preferred scanner choice for an upcoming examination, information about a better diagnostic performance of a short-bore scanner significantly improved its preference rates (from 6/160 to 49/160 or 3.8 to 30.5%, p < 0.001). Patients with a claustrophobic event preferred open designs significantly more often than patients without a claustrophobic event (p = 0.047). Patients scanned in a short-bore scanner in our trial preferred this design significantly more often (p = 0.003). Noise reduction (51/160, 31.9%), more space over the head (44/ 160, 27.5%), and overall more space (33/160, 20.6%) were the commonest suggested areas of improvement. Conclusion Patients at high risk for claustrophobia visually prefer open-over short-bore MRI designs for further development. Education about a better diagnostic performance of a visually less-attractive scanner can increase its acceptance. Noise and space were of most concern for claustrophobic patients. This information can guide individual referral of claustrophobic patients to scanners and future scanner development. Key Points • Patients at high risk for claustrophobia visually favor the further development of open scanners as opposed to short-and closed-bore scanner designs. • Educating claustrophobic patients about a higher diagnostic performance of a short-bore scanner can significantly increase their acceptance of this otherwise visually less-attractive design. • A medical history of earlier claustrophobic events in a given MRI scanner type and focusing on the features "more space" and "noise reduction" can help to guide referral of patients who are at high risk for claustrophobia.

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Claustrophobia game: Design and development of a new virtual reality game for treatment of claustrophobia

Cited by 24 publications

References 15 publications

Social Interaction With Agents and Avatars in Immersive Virtual Environments: A Survey

Social Interaction With Agents and Avatars in Immersive Virtual Environments: A Survey

The Walls Are Closing In: Postural Responses to a Virtual Reality Claustrophobic Simulation

Patient preferences for development in MRI scanner design: a survey of claustrophobic patients in a randomized study

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