Cinematic Virtual Reality Intervention for Improving Psychosocial Functioning in Individuals With Schizophrenia

Dokuz Eylül University (DEU)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Schizophrenia

Treatments: Behavioral: Cinematic Virtual Reality Psychososcial Treatment Program Group

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07326618

5297-GOA-2021/24-12

Details and patient eligibility

About

Virtual reality (VR) is a novel and innovative intervention method increasingly used in psychiatric research and treatment. VR allows individuals to experience realistic, everyday social situations in a safe and controlled environment. This study aims to examine the effects of a cinematic VR-based psychosocial intervention on individuals with schizophrenia who experience reduced psychosocial functioning and social isolation.

In this study, a Cinematic Virtual Reality Treatment Program (cVR-PTP) consisting of 12 weekly sessions was developed. Each session focuses on real-life social situations designed to support social interaction and daily functioning. The intervention aims to contribute to improvements in psychosocial functioning, social engagement, and overall functioning in individuals with schizophrenia.

Full description

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder associated with significant impairments in psychosocial functioning. These impairments affect individuals' abilities to perform in daily life activities, maintain occupational functioning, and participate actively in social communities. Reduced psychosocial functioning is a major contributor to long-term disability in schizophrenia and is widely accepted as a core indicator of recovery beyond symptom remission.

Although antipsychotic medications are effective to a certain point in reducing positive symptoms, there is currently no pharmacological treatment that directly targets improvements in psychosocial functioning. For this reason, psychosocial interventions such as social skills training and social cognitive remediation programs have been developed to enhance social participation and functional outcomes in individuals with schizophrenia. However, these approaches often show limited effectiveness, and their benefits may not generalize to real-life situations or be equally effective for all patients.

Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a promising alternative approach for psychosocial interventions in schizophrenia after the advances in technology. VR-based interventions allow individuals to engage in simulated social environments that offer ecological validity while maintaining a safe and controlled setting under the supervision of a mental health professional. Existing VR studies in schizophrenia have primarily based on computer-generated virtual environments or avatar-based characters.

In the present study, a cinematic virtual reality intervention program was created using 360-degree real world video recordings. This environmental seeting was designed to enhance immersion by presenting social situations as they naturally occur in everyday life. The study aimed to examine whether exposure to these cinematic VR scenarios could lead to improvements in psychosocial functioning in individuals with schizophrenia, compared to standard follow-up.

The objective of this study is to measure the effectiveness of cinematic basd VR for improving psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia by focusing on real-life-based immersive experiences. The other objective of this study is to measure the sense of presence of the partcipants in the cinematic virtual environment.

Enrollment: 37 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 55 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Clinical stability over the past 12 weeks
• No changes in antipsychotic medication during last 6 monhts
• Having a score ≤70 on the PSP and and ≤61 on the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale (SOFAS)

Exclusion criteria

• Experienced a psychotic episode or suicide attempt in the past 12 weeks
• Received electroconvulsive therapy in the past 6 months
• Having a diagnosis of a serious physical or neurological disorder that could impact clinical functioning or sensory systems (visual or auditory), alcohol or substance use disorder, intellectual disability, or a history of epilepsy
• Participants with an identified suicide risk, self-harm tendencies, or violent behavior

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

37 participants in 2 patient groups

Cinematic Virtual Reality Psychososcial Treatment Program Group

Experimental group

Description:

Participants received cinematic VR sessions in this group on a weekly basis during 12 weeks

Treatment:

Behavioral: Cinematic Virtual Reality Psychososcial Treatment Program Group

Control Group - Face to Face Interviews

No Intervention group

Description:

This group consists of individuals with schizophrenia. Participants in this group did not receive the virtual reality intervention. They participated in weekly face-to-face, non-interventional interviews as part of treatment as usual for 12 weeks on a weekly basis.