Piloting Virtual Reality Environments to Treat PTSD in Healthcare Workers

Change in Anxiety Symptoms measured by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Scale

Scored between 0-21: Cut offs: 0-4 = None 5-9 = Mild anxiety 10-14 = Moderate anxiety 15-21 = Severe anxiety Higher scores indicate greater symptom severity.

Time frame: Baseline to approximately five weeks

Change in Depressive Symptoms measured by the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology

16-item self-report measure. Scored between 0-27. Higher scores indicate greater symptom severity.

Time frame: Baseline to approximately five weeks

Change in score on the Insomnia Sleep Index

7 item self-report measure. Total scores range from 0-28, with higher scores indicating higher insomnia severity.

Time frame: Baseline to approximately five weeks

Change in score on the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5)

The well-validated PCL-5 will assess self-reported PTSD symptom severity. Scores range from 0-80. Higher scores indicate greater symptom severity.

Time frame: Baseline to approximately five weeks

Change in Score on the Occupational Stress Inventory Revised (OSI-R)

The scale is comprised of 140 items total. The measure is comprised of 14 different scales and respondents indicate on a 5-point scale the frequency of a stress-related event.

Time frame: Baseline to approximately five weeks

Change in score on the Modified Moral Injury Events Scale

11 item self-report measure that measures moral injury. Statements related to distress or feelings of betrayal related to potentially morally injurious events are rated on a 6 point scale ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 6 (strongly disagree). Score range is 11-66, with higher scores reflecting greater moral injury.

Time frame: Baseline to approximately five weeks

Change in score on the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS)

10 point visual analog scale to rate the extent to which work/school, social life and home life or family responsibilities are impaired by his or her symptoms. The 3 items can be summed into a single dimensional measure of global functional impairment that ranges from 0 (unimpaired) to 30 (highly impaired).

Time frame: Baseline to approximately five weeks

Change in score on the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS)

Subjects rate their own social functioning over times on a 5-point scale on items covering work for pay, housework, extended family, parenting, marital status, social activity and leisure, family unit and student status (sub-scales). Mean values of all the sub-scales are used, with a range from 0-5. Higher score = worse outcome.

Time frame: Baseline to approximately five weeks

Change in score on the Moral Distress Scale

21 item self-report measure measuring moral distress (the emotional state that arises from a situation when an individual feels that the ethically correct action to take is different from what he/she is tasked with doing). Score range is 0-336. Higher scores indicate greater moral distress.

Time frame: Baseline to approximately five weeks

Change in score on the Quality of Life Inventory

The assessment yields an overall score and profile in 16 areas of life; health, self-esteem, goals and values, money, work, play, learning, creativity, helping, love, friends, children, relatives, home, neighbourhood, and community. Higher scores indicate higher level of quality of life.

Time frame: Baseline to approximately five weeks