Impact VR: An Emotion Recognition and Regulation Training Program for Youth With CD

Virginia Commonwealth University110 enrolled

Overview

Conduct disorder (CD) is one of the most prevalent childhood psychiatric disorders. Unfortunately, there are limited treatments available for CD. The present study aims to test an innovative virtual reality intervention called Impact VR for symptom reduction in a sample of 60 youth with CD.

Within the CD diagnosis, a subset of youth (12-46%) display callous-unemotional (CU) traits (termed "limited prosocial emotions"). CU traits denote additional symptoms including a lack of remorse/guilt, a callous lack of empathy, shallow affect, and/or lack of concern about performance. Although both CD and CU traits are inextricably linked to poor outcomes for youth, there remains a scarcity of targeted interventions for CD and CU traits. One of the most significant challenges for treatment is that youth with CD are often perceived by providers as treatment-resistant and treatment disrupters. This leads to poor treatment retention and further isolation from treatment opportunities. Further, existing interventions that target antisocial behaviors more generally are costly because they require 24/7 behavioral management therapies. Impact VR is a psychoeducational intervention for improving emotion recognition and regulation, using immersive gameplay and storylines that are relevant to youth. Impact VR uses evidence-based cognitive and dialectical behavioral approaches to improve emotion regulation. At the center of Impact VR is an individualized training program that teaches youth to effectively identify emotional expressions in others.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

110

Conditions

Conduct Disorder Conduct Disorders in Children Conduct Disorders in Adolescence Callous-Unemotional Traits

Interventions

Virtual RealityBEHAVIORAL

VR: The goal of the VR intervention is to provide youth an immersive, engaging, and therapeutic environment to reduce CD and CU traits

Comparative ControlOTHER

Complete a one-time PowerPoint presentation that provides an overview of emotion expressions and instructions on how to recognize emotions in others.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 10 YearsMax age: 17 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Aged 10-17 years old * Identified through the TriNetX database as having a conduct disorder diagnosis * English speaking Exclusion Criteria: * Youth aged \<10 years and \>18 years old * Non-English speaking * Youth of caregivers younger than 18 years old.

Locations (1)

Virginia Commonwealth University

Richmond, Virginia, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Assess the preliminary efficacy of Impact Virtual Reality (VR) in reducing Callous-Unemotional traits

Participants enrolled into Impact VR will be complete the first of four sessions. The four 20-minute Callous-unemotional traits will be measured using the 24-item Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits. Both the parent and youth reports will be completed. sessions will be completed over 4 weeks (one session per week) either in the lab, at the participant's home, school or a mutual private meeting place.