Eliciting affect in teens in a virtual world

描述(由申请者提供)：拟议的项目将研究沉浸式虚拟现实技术作为青少年艾滋病毒预防的干预工具的使用。青少年感染艾滋病毒的风险很大。情绪失调在青少年中很常见。研究表明，不良的情感管理能力与青少年危险的性行为之间存在联系。这项研究表明，控制情绪的能力是避免危险行为的关键，青少年因不良情绪管理技能而面临的风险更大。幸运的是，这些技能可以通过教学和建模来传授，这使它们成为干预的极好目标，而以前的干预是通过角色扮演来实现的。沉浸式虚拟现实在模拟真实世界环境和扩大艾滋病毒预防干预措施的影响方面，与用于青少年艾滋病毒预防干预的基于小组的角色扮演相比具有许多优势。与其在创伤后应激障碍中的应用类似，沉浸式虚拟现实是一项很有前途的技术，可以让青少年有机会在高度逼真的环境中练习使用有效的情绪调节技能。这项技术的其他好处可能是在青少年中更多地参与和保留艾滋病毒预防干预措施。这个拟议的STTR项目第一阶段和第二阶段的总体目标是为青少年开发和完善一个针对情感管理的虚拟现实环境。在第一阶段，研究团队将开发和完善沉浸式虚拟环境，在高风险情况下引发影响。最终的沉浸式虚拟现实环境(在第二阶段完成)可由健康促进干预者与艾滋病毒预防干预手册一起使用，作为一种诱导情感的手段，并为青少年提供一个“真实世界”环境，在其中练习与药物使用和艾滋病毒预防有关的情绪调节技能。这些目标将通过罗德岛医院/布朗医院和虚拟更好公司的研究人员合作实现，这是一家专门为临床使用创建身临其境的虚拟现实环境的小企业。这一工具将代表着情感调节技能的练习和磨练方式的重大进步，目前通过角色扮演或想象暴露实现，通过增加用于引发情感的线索的显着性，从而使其对干预者、学校和心理健康临床医生具有很高的销路。公共卫生意义：(1)检查沉浸式虚拟现实技术是否为青少年提供了一个增强的环境，以练习情绪调节技能和协商更安全的性行为。(2)为青少年艾滋病毒预防干预提供旨在减少性风险的额外工具。 公共卫生相关性：该项目将为有心理健康问题的青少年设计和开发一个身临其境的虚拟现实环境，以提供现实情景，青少年可以在其中练习管理与线索相关的情感，以从事危险行为。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed project will examine the use of immersive virtual reality technology as an intervention tool for HIV Prevention with adolescents. Adolescents are at risk for contracting HIV. Affect dysregulation is common among adolescents. Research has demonstrated connections between poor affect management abilities and risky sexual behavior among adolescents. This research suggests that the ability to regulate one's emotions is key to avoiding risk behaviors and that adolescents are at greater risk for poor affect management skills. Fortunately, these skills can be taught via teaching and modeling, making them an excellent target for intervention, which has previously been approached through role-playing. Immersive virtual reality offers many advantages over group based role-plays, used in HIV prevention interventions for adolescents, in its ability to simulate real-world environments and extend the impact of HIV prevention interventions. Similar to its use in PTSD, immersive virtual reality is a promising technology for giving teens the opportunity to practice using effective affect regulation skills in a highly realistic environment. Additional benefits of this technology will likely be increased engagement and retention in HIV prevention interventions among young adolescents. The overall aims of Phase I and Phase II of this proposed STTR project are to develop and refine a virtual reality environment for adolescents targeting affect management. In Phase I, the research team will develop and refine an immersive virtual environment that will elicit affect in a high-risk situation. The final immersive virtual reality environments (completed in Phase II) can be used by health promotion interventionists in conjunction with an HIV prevention intervention manual as a means to elicit affect and provide adolescents with a "real world" environment in which to practice emotion regulation skills related to substance use and HIV prevention. These aims will be achieved through the collaboration of researchers at Rhode Island Hospital/Brown and Virtually Better, a small business that specializes in creating immersive virtual reality environments for clinical use. This tool will represent a significant advance in the way in which affect regulation skills are practiced and honed, currently achieved via role plays or imaginal exposure, by increasing the salience of cues used to elicit affect, thus making it highly marketable to interventionists, schools, and mental health clinicians. Public Health Significance: (1) Examine whether immersive virtual reality technology provides an enhanced environment for adolescents to practice emotion regulation skills and negotiate safer sexual behavior. (2) Provide adolescent HIV prevention interventions with an additional tool to target sexual risk reduction. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project would design and develop an immersive virtual reality environment for adolescents with mental health problems to provide realistic scenarios with which adolescents can practice managing affect associated with cues to engage in risk behaviors.