VR Therapy for Psychosis Negative Symptoms (V-NeST)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Virtual Reality Supported Therapy for the Negative Symptoms of Psychosis
IRAS ID
260511
Contact name
Matteo Cella
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
Schizophrenia is the most severe form of psychosis, one of the most debilitating mental health conditions. It is estimated that only 1 in 10 people diagnosed with schizophrenia will fully recover. Research has increasingly pointed at the importance of negative symptoms in influencing this recovery prospect. Negative symptoms include poor motivation, social withdrawal, difficulties in experiencing pleasure, blunted affect and reduced communication. These symptoms are at the root of day-to-day functioning difficulties.
To date there are no evidence-based therapies targeting negative symptoms. We believe two key barriers hampered the development of effective interventions. The first is that no therapy has targeted the underpinning mechanism maintaining negative symptoms: feedback sensitivity. The second is that transfer of therapy learning to everyday life is generally poor and this has limited sustained impact on functioning.
In this study we aim to: i) Develop a novel therapy targeting feedback sensitivity problems in people with schizophrenia with the overall aim of improving recovery; ii) Maximise the transfer of therapy gains to everyday life by embedding therapy principles in a Virtual Reality (VR) environment.
In this study we will complete the development of a VR assisted therapy targeting feedback sensitivity supported by a therapist and including a real-life practice plan. We propose to test the feasibility and acceptability of the novel VR therapy. To do so we will recruit 30 service users with schizophrenia and randomly assigned them to receive the novel VR therapy plus their usual care or usual care alone. We will collect measures of: personal goal progress, functioning levels and psychosis symptoms (including negative symptoms) before and after the therapy. We will collect participants satisfaction rating and procedure acceptability for each session.
The information gathered in this study will allow us to finalise the research and therapy procedures for a definitive trail.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/0830
Date of REC Opinion
3 Jul 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion