Validating a Virtual Environment for Sexual Assault Victims

Abstract

Virtual reality has shown promising results in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for some traumatic experiences, but sexual assault has been understudied. One important question to address is the relevance and safety of a virtual environment (VE) allowing patients to be progressively exposed to a sexual assault scenario. The aim of this study was to validate such a VE. Thirty women (victims and nonvictims of sexual assault) were randomly assigned in a counter-balanced order to 2 immersions in a virtual bar: a control scenario where the encounter with the aggressor does not lead to sexual assault and an experimental scenario where the participant is assaulted. Immersions were conducted in a fully immersive 6-wall system. Questionnaires were administered and psychophysiological measures were recorded. No adverse events were reported during or after the immersions. Repeated-measures analyses of covariance revealed a significant time effect and significantly more anxiety (Cohen's f = 0.41, large effect size) and negative affect (Cohen's f = 0.35, medium effect size) in the experimental scenario than in the control condition. Given the safety of the scenario and its potential to induce emotions, it can be further tested to document its usefulness with sexual assault victims who suffer from PTSD.

Virtual Reality and Correctional Rehabilitation: A Game Changer

“…Loranger and Bouchard (2017) explored the impact of VR simulations for sexual assault victims. This study used a fully immersive CAVE-like system to expose the both victims and nonvictims to several scenarios, which ultimately progressed to a simulated confrontation and assault with an aggressor.…”

“…This exploratory study was conducted to determine whether VR could be used to safely induce an emotional response, a key component in ET. They found that the levels of anxiety for all participants did increase as the simulation progressed, but the simulation was completed and tolerated by all participants (Loranger & Bouchard, 2017, p. 163). Interestingly, sexual assault victims did not respond more intensely than nonvictims.…”

Changes in Risk Perception After Sexual Victimization: Are We Following the Right Track?

“…In addition, virtual reality enables more flexibility as scenarios can be easily updated to reflect current language and trends in college women’s social and dating experiences and to incorporate potential new insights into risk cues. A recent study by Loranger and Bouchard (2017) showed that an experiment in which a participant is sexually assaulted in a virtual environment is tolerated by participants, also by those who have been victims of sexual assault in the past. None of the participants mentioned having been overly troubled by the experiment or needing postexperiment support, indicating that virtual reality can be safely used.…”

Erobots as research tools: Overcoming the ethical and methodological challenges of sexology

“…For instance, Renaud and colleagues (2013) showed that VR-based agent could be used to distinguish between the sexual arousal response and gaze behavior of minor-attracted individuals and people attracted to adults. Loranger and Bouchard (2017) further showed that VR could be employed to assess and potentially help treat victims of sexual assault by exposing them to a safe and controlled virtual encounter with an aggressor. More recently, Milani and colleagues (2021) demonstrated that, compared to two-dimensional sexually explicit video, VR three-dimensional women-centered erotica elicited greater general presence (i.e., being there), sexual presence, and sexual arousal, with the experience of sexual presence being higher when the stimuli were presented from a first-person point of view, compared to a third-person point of view.…”