Reimagining exposure therapy with virtual reality
VR | Usability Testing | Diary Study | Survey | User Interviews
BACKGROUND + OBJECTIVE
Can VR provide a safer, scalable medium for in-home exposure therapy?
OPPORTUNITY
Traditional exposure therapy requires patients to repeatedly encounter anxiety-provoking situations in the real world. This VR program aimed to make exposure more accessible by allowing people to practice realistic social situations from home.
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At the MVP stage, the team needed to understand whether the experience was compelling and usable enough to warrant further investment and clinical validation.
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OBJECTIVE
Evaluate the experience, uncover opportunities to strengthen the intervention, and identify what would need to be true for the program to move toward clinical trial.
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APPROACH
3 Phase approach to evaluating the user experience and defining a path forward into clinical trial
Why this approach? A longitudinal, in-home design allowed us to move beyond first impressions and understand how engagement, usability and perceived impact evolved across treatment.
Key Questions
​USER EXPERIENCE, VALUE & IMPACT
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How do people with social anxiety experience the VR treatment program across the full treatment journey?
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What aspects of the experience create confidence, engagement, or friction?
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What value do users perceive the program adding to their existing approach to managing social anxiety?
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How do participants describe their anxiety before, during, and after using the program?
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PRODUCT EVOLUTION & CLINICAL VALIDATION
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What aspects of the experience should be improved, expanded, or prioritized?
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What barriers could prevent users from completing or benefiting from the program?
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What outcomes do users and therapists consider meaningful indicators of progress?
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what outcomes matter most as the program moves toward clinical validation?
Research Themes
User Control
Error Recovery
Personalization
Trust & Safety
Engagement
OUTCOME
A path forward for product refinement and clinical validation
PRODUCT
Prioritize experience stability at the outset
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Bumpy technical challenges during onboarding to the hardware built frustration and created a negative mindset for users at the outset, detracting from the overall experience and efficacy of the program. Stabilizing the system and helping users get oriented to the hardware is essential for a successful product launch.
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Throughout the program users reported varying levels of responsiveness, making the software feel clunky and detracting from the overall experience.
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EXPERIENCE
Improve usability, increase realism and personalization
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The lack of error prevention and error recovery caused users to make irreversible mistakes that detracted from the overall experience and efficacy of the program. The system should always include means of error prevention and recovery to remove friction.
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While participants reported an overall positive and effective experience, they want to see expanded scenarios to better support different anxiety triggers and treatment needs.
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CLINICAL
Validated efficacy in clinical and individual settings
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Through this research we validated that the VR treatment method is especially applicable and effective for social anxiety and could be paired with treatment by a therapist or as a standalone treatment. It will also allow for treatment at scale and provide a self-guided, at-your-own-pace option for patients looking for options other than or in addition to 1:1 talk therapy.
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APPENDIX
Participants
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Patients
N=11
Diagnosed with social anxiety
Varying condition severity
Varying therapy experience (length & type)
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Therapists
N=2
Currently treating patients with social anxiety
Our Team
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1 Director
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1 Researcher (myself)
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1 Research Associate
My Role
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learning design
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moderation
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analysis
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client delivery
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participant experience, with support from the L1 researcher on data collection, fielding and participant management.
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The L3 Director provided account leadership, vision, scope and resourcing.