Using virtual reality to treat aggressive behavior problems in children: A feasibility study

Alsem, Sophie C.; Dijk, Anouk van; Verhulp, E.; Castro, Bram Orobio de

doi:10.1177/13591045211026160

Cited by 15 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(43 reference statements)

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“…Third, the lack of significant effects on perceived behavioral control outcomes suggests that program developers may have to look at effective methods of teaching sexual and relationship competence and skills beyond role-plays and discussions. For instance, in research on general aggressive behavior in male youth, there is an upcoming use of VR methods to let participants safely practice in almost real-life aggression-invoking situations (Alsem et al, 2021).…”

Section: Suggestions For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual and Dating Violence Prevention Programs for Male Youth: A Systematic Review of Program Characteristics, Intended Psychosexual Outcomes, and Effectiveness

Verbeek¹,

Weeland²,

Luijk³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Sexual and dating violence (SDV) by male youth (> 25 years) –including sexual harassment, emotional partner violence and rape– is a worldwide problem. The goal of this preregistered (PROSPERO, ID: CRD42022281220) systematic review was to map existing SDV prevention programs aimed at male youth, including their characteristics (e.g., content, intensity), intended psychosexual outcomes, and empirically demonstrated effectiveness, guided by the principles of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991). We conducted searches in six online databases for published, peer-reviewed quantitative effectiveness studies on multi-session, group focused, and interaction based SDV prevention programs for male youth ending March 2022. After screening of 21,156 hits using PRISMA guidelines, 15 studies on 13 different programs, from four continents were included. Narrative analysis showed, first, broad ranges in program intensity (2-48 hours total), and few program curricula included explicit discussion of relevant aspects of the TPB. Second, programs’ main intended psychosexual outcomes were to change SDV behaviors, or related attitudes, or norms. Third, significant effects were found mostly on longer term behaviors, and short-term attitudes. Other theoretical proxies of SDV behaviors, such as social norms and perceived behavioral control, were sparsely investigated, thus program effectiveness on these outcomes remains largely unknown. Assessed with the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool, moderate to serious risk of bias arose in all studies. We present concrete suggestions for program content, such as explicit attention to victimization and masculinity and discuss best practices for evaluation research, including assessments of program integrity, and examining relevant theoretical proxies of SDV.

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Section: Suggestions For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual and Dating Violence Prevention Programs for Male Youth: A Systematic Review of Program Characteristics, Intended Psychosexual Outcomes, and Effectiveness

Verbeek¹,

Weeland²,

Luijk³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…The aim of YourSkills is to reduce children's aggressive behavior problems by enhancing emotion regulation and social information processing skills. Children practice anger recognition, anger regulation, nonhostile intent attribution, and other social problem solving skills in social interactions (for an overview of the treatment sessions, see: Alsem et al, 2021). To enable children to practice their skills or new cognitions whilst being emotionally engaged, therapists create challenging social situations for children in virtual reality or roleplays.…”

Section: Yourskills Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We examined our research questions within the intervention YourSkills. In this manualized cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), children practice anger regulation and intent attribution skills during social interactions that are either simulated in virtual reality or roleplayed by a therapist (Alsem et al, 2021). In a previous study, we found that both the virtual reality and roleplay versions of YourSkills were more likely to reduce children's aggressive behavior than care-as-usual for six out of seven aggression outcomes, with some indications that virtual reality outperformed roleplay .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Within Intervention Change: Anger Regulation and Hostile Intent Attribution as Mechanisms to Reduce Children’s Aggressive Behavior

Alsem

Verhulp

Dijk

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Intervention programs can effectively reduce children’s aggressive behavior problems. However, surprisingly few studies have investigated through what underlying mechanisms these interventions exert their beneficial effects. This requires high-frequency measurements of change mechanisms throughout the course of treatment. We used such a design to examine adaptive anger regulation and hostile intent attribution as mechanisms of change in an intervention to reduce children’s aggressive behavior problems. In total, 76 boys with aggressive behavior problems (Mage = 10.58, SD = 1.52; 96.1% born in Netherlands) participated in an 11-session cognitive behavior therapy intervention. During each treatment session, we used brief 3-item measures to assess children’s self-reported anger regulation, hostile intent attribution and aggression, as well as parent-reported child aggression. We analyzed these high-frequency measurements using latent growth curve models, providing an empirical test of individual-level change mechanisms. Results showed that individual change in child-reported aggression was associated with individual change in adaptive anger regulation and hostile intent attribution. For parent-reported aggression, such associations were found only for hostile intent attribution. These findings provide support for anger regulation and hostile intent attribution as within intervention change mechanisms, supporting the idea that these mechanisms are effective intervention targets to reduce children’s aggressive behavior problems.

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“…The disorder often includes premature sexual activity, persistent physical or verbal contacts, emotional outbursts, recklessness, antisocial behavior, and low self-esteem [23]. Interventions with the aim of evaluating this type of disorder using VR-based solutions have been reported to be effective [23][24][25].…”

Section: Conduct Disordermentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual reality among children with mental disorders: A mini-review

Rasoulian-Kasrineh

Tabatabaei

2021

Adv Health Behav

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Background: Mental disorders are a group of disorders that affect thinking and behavior by causing discomfort or disability to the person. Almost one in eight people aged 5 to 19 deals with these kinds of disorders and his or her growth may be significantly affected. It seems that using novel technologies in such cases are helpful. One of these advanced technologies, which has recently attracted a lot of attention in many fields such as health, is Virtual Reality. Therefore, the present study aimed to provide a brief review about the use of Virtual Reality among children with mental disorders. Methods: In this study, articles in which Virtual Reality were used among children dealing with mental disorders published during 2012 to 2021 were investigated. PsycINFO electronic databases, PubMed Google Scholar, Medline, were searched. Results: Children deal with different types of mental disorders and Virtual Reality has been used for many of them. The most common of them, in which Virtual Reality have been used and caused improvements include Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Depressive Disorder, Schizophrenia Disorder, and Developmental Disability. Discussion and conclusion: According to the results, Virtual Reality is a very interesting, useful, effective and safe technology for patients dealing with mental disorders especially children and adolescence. It is actually a highly specialized technology which can provide improvement, and in some cases completely new ways of treatment for children suffering from mental disorders.

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Using virtual reality to treat aggressive behavior problems in children: A feasibility study

Cited by 15 publications

References 33 publications

Sexual and Dating Violence Prevention Programs for Male Youth: A Systematic Review of Program Characteristics, Intended Psychosexual Outcomes, and Effectiveness

Sexual and Dating Violence Prevention Programs for Male Youth: A Systematic Review of Program Characteristics, Intended Psychosexual Outcomes, and Effectiveness

Within Intervention Change: Anger Regulation and Hostile Intent Attribution as Mechanisms to Reduce Children’s Aggressive Behavior

Virtual reality among children with mental disorders: A mini-review

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