Immersive Virtual Reality Enabled Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and interaction, which can have significant impacts on daily life, education, and work. Limited performance in learning and working, as well as exclusion from social activities, are common challenges faced by individuals with ASD. Virtual reality (VR) technology has emerged as a promising medium for delivering interventions for ASD. To address five major research questions and understand the latest trends and challenges in this area, a systematic review of 21 journal articles published between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2022 was conducted using the PRISMA approach. A meta-analysis of 15 articles was further conducted to assess interventional effectiveness. The results showed that most studies focused on social and affective skill training and relied on existing theories and practices with limited adaptations for VR. Furthermore, the enabling technologies’ affordances for the interventional needs of individuals with ASD were not thoroughly investigated. We suggest that future studies should propose and design interventions with solid theoretical foundations, explore more interventional areas besides social and affective skill training, and employ more rigorous experimental designs to investigate the effectiveness of VR-enabled ASD interventions.

Using Virtual Reality Interventions to Promote Social and Emotional Learning for Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Therefore, when designing VR systems and implementing instruction, the theoretical basis is very important, but in the process of coding, only six articles mentioned frameworks, models, concepts, and theories. This finding aligns with those reported by Li and Belter [37].…”

“…Out of all of the studies, 44% included participant populations that were mostly male (male participants made up more than two-thirds of the total, n = 14), 34% had a gender balance (n = 11), and 9% were all male (n = 3). This is similar to the findings of Li et al [37] and Mesa-Gresa and Gil-Gómez [32], where the study populations tended to include more male participants. Furthermore, only half of the studies reported grade levels, two were of preschool age, nine were for primary school children, two were for secondary school students, and three were for both primary and secondary school students.…”

Effectiveness of Virtual Reality (VR) in Improving Social Skills in Autism Spectrum Disorder Cases: A Literature Review

“…In addition to the Evidence Based Practice above, recent studies have shown that virtual reality (VR) technology can be a promising medium for providing ASD interventions. (Li et al, 2023).…”

Autism-related traits are related to effectiveness of immersive visual guidance on spatial cognitive ability: a pilot study

“…Recently, some virtual reality (VR) contents have been used for individuals with autism-spectrum disorder (ASD) or higher autistic individuals (Lorenzo et al, 2013;Ip et al, 2018;Kumazaki et al, 2021;Li et al, 2023). ASD is a developmental disorder characterized by difficulties in social interactions and excessively limited behavioral patterns and interests (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).…”