IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i15p8188-d607137.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Virtual Reality-Based Self-Help Intervention for Dealing with the Psychological Distress Associated with the COVID-19 Lockdown: An Effectiveness Study with a Two-Week Follow-Up

Author

Listed:
  • Giuseppe Riva

    (Humane Technology Lab., Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy
    Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab., IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, 20149 Milan, Italy)

  • Luca Bernardelli

    (Become-Hub, 20123 Milan, Italy)

  • Gianluca Castelnuovo

    (Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy)

  • Daniele Di Lernia

    (Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy)

  • Cosimo Tuena

    (Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab., IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, 20149 Milan, Italy
    Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy)

  • Alex Clementi

    (Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy)

  • Elisa Pedroli

    (Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab., IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, 20149 Milan, Italy
    Faculty of Psychology, University of eCampus, 22060 Novedrate, Italy)

  • Clelia Malighetti

    (Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy)

  • Francesca Sforza

    (Become-Hub, 20123 Milan, Italy)

  • Brenda K. Wiederhold

    (Virtual Reality Medical Center, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
    Virtual Reality Medical Institute, 1200 Brussels, Belgium)

  • Silvia Serino

    (Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a novel self-administered at-home daily virtual reality (VR)-based intervention (COVID Feel Good) for reducing the psychological burden experienced during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. A total of 40 individuals who had experienced at least two months of strict social distancing measures followed COVID Feel Good between June and July 2020 for one week. Primary outcome measures were depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, perceived stress levels, and hopelessness. Secondary outcomes were the experienced social connectedness and the level of fear experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Linear mixed-effects models were fitted to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Additionally, we also performed a clinical change analysis on primary outcome measures. As concerning primary outcome measures, participants exhibited improvements from baseline to post-intervention for depression levels, stress levels, general distress, and perceived stress (all p < 0.05) but not for the perceived hopelessness ( p = 0.110). Results for the secondary outcomes indicated an increase in social connectedness from T0 to T1 ( p = 0.033) but not a significant reduction in the perceived fear of coronavirus ( p = 0.412). Among these study variables, these significant improvements were maintained from post-intervention to the 2-week follow-up ( p > 0.05). Results indicated that the intervention was associated with good clinical outcomes, low-to-no risks for the treatment, and no adverse effects or risks. Globally, evidence suggests a beneficial effect of the proposed protocol and its current availability in 12 different languages makes COVID Feel Good a free choice for helping individuals worldwide to cope with the psychological distress associated with the COVID-19 crisis, although large scale trials are needed to evaluate its efficacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Giuseppe Riva & Luca Bernardelli & Gianluca Castelnuovo & Daniele Di Lernia & Cosimo Tuena & Alex Clementi & Elisa Pedroli & Clelia Malighetti & Francesca Sforza & Brenda K. Wiederhold & Silvia Serino, 2021. "A Virtual Reality-Based Self-Help Intervention for Dealing with the Psychological Distress Associated with the COVID-19 Lockdown: An Effectiveness Study with a Two-Week Follow-Up," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-19, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:15:p:8188-:d:607137
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/15/8188/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/15/8188/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bates, Douglas & Mächler, Martin & Bolker, Ben & Walker, Steve, 2015. "Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 67(i01).
    2. Mogesie Necho & Mekonnen Tsehay & Mengesha Birkie & Gebyaw Biset & Erkihun Tadesse, 2021. "Prevalence of anxiety, depression, and psychological distress among the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 67(7), pages 892-906, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hongqidi Li & Wenyi Dong & Zhimeng Wang & Nuo Chen & Jianping Wu & Guangxin Wang & Ting Jiang, 2021. "Effect of a Virtual Reality-Based Restorative Environment on the Emotional and Cognitive Recovery of Individuals with Mild-to-Moderate Anxiety and Depression," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-30, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. JANSSENS, Jochen & DE CORTE, Annelies & SÖRENSEN, Kenneth, 2016. "Water distribution network design optimisation with respect to reliability," Working Papers 2016007, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    2. Raymond Hernandez & Elizabeth A. Pyatak & Cheryl L. P. Vigen & Haomiao Jin & Stefan Schneider & Donna Spruijt-Metz & Shawn C. Roll, 2021. "Understanding Worker Well-Being Relative to High-Workload and Recovery Activities across a Whole Day: Pilot Testing an Ecological Momentary Assessment Technique," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-17, October.
    3. Christopher Hassall & Michael Nisbet & Evan Norcliffe & He Wang, 2024. "The Potential Health Benefits of Urban Tree Planting Suggested through Immersive Environments," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-12, February.
    4. Jie Zhao & Ji Chen & Damien Beillouin & Hans Lambers & Yadong Yang & Pete Smith & Zhaohai Zeng & Jørgen E. Olesen & Huadong Zang, 2022. "Global systematic review with meta-analysis reveals yield advantage of legume-based rotations and its drivers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Elisabeth Beckmann & Lukas Olbrich & Joseph Sakshaug, 2024. "Multivariate assessment of interviewer-related errors in a cross-national economic survey (Lukas Olbrich, Elisabeth Beckmann, Joseph W. Sakshaug)," Working Papers 253, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).
    6. F J Heather & D Z Childs & A M Darnaude & J L Blanchard, 2018. "Using an integral projection model to assess the effect of temperature on the growth of gilthead seabream Sparus aurata," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, May.
    7. Valentina Krenz & Arjen Alink & Tobias Sommer & Benno Roozendaal & Lars Schwabe, 2023. "Time-dependent memory transformation in hippocampus and neocortex is semantic in nature," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    8. Morán-Ordóñez, Alejandra & Ameztegui, Aitor & De Cáceres, Miquel & de-Miguel, Sergio & Lefèvre, François & Brotons, Lluís & Coll, Lluís, 2020. "Future trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services in Mediterranean forests under global change scenarios," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    9. Jack McDonnell & Thomas McKenna & Kathryn A. Yurkonis & Deirdre Hennessy & Rafael Andrade Moral & Caroline Brophy, 2023. "A Mixed Model for Assessing the Effect of Numerous Plant Species Interactions on Grassland Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function Relationships," Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, Springer;The International Biometric Society;American Statistical Association, vol. 28(1), pages 1-19, March.
    10. Ana Pinto & Tong Yin & Marion Reichenbach & Raghavendra Bhatta & Pradeep Kumar Malik & Eva Schlecht & Sven König, 2020. "Enteric Methane Emissions of Dairy Cattle Considering Breed Composition, Pasture Management, Housing Conditions and Feeding Characteristics along a Rural-Urban Gradient in a Rising Megacity," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-18, December.
    11. Damian M. Herz & Manuel Bange & Gabriel Gonzalez-Escamilla & Miriam Auer & Keyoumars Ashkan & Petra Fischer & Huiling Tan & Rafal Bogacz & Muthuraman Muthuraman & Sergiu Groppa & Peter Brown, 2022. "Dynamic control of decision and movement speed in the human basal ganglia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    12. Kathrin Stenchly & Marc Victor Hansen & Katharina Stein & Andreas Buerkert & Wilhelm Loewenstein, 2018. "Income Vulnerability of West African Farming Households to Losses in Pollination Services: A Case Study from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-12, November.
    13. Dongyan Liu & Chongran Zhou & John K. Keesing & Oscar Serrano & Axel Werner & Yin Fang & Yingjun Chen & Pere Masque & Janine Kinloch & Aleksey Sadekov & Yan Du, 2022. "Wildfires enhance phytoplankton production in tropical oceans," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    14. Zhaogeng Yang & Yanhui Li & Peijin Hu & Jun Ma & Yi Song, 2020. "Prevalence of Anemia and its Associated Factors among Chinese 9-, 12-, and 14-Year-Old Children: Results from 2014 Chinese National Survey on Students Constitution and Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-10, February.
    15. Marco Lopez-Cruz & Fernando M. Aguate & Jacob D. Washburn & Natalia Leon & Shawn M. Kaeppler & Dayane Cristina Lima & Ruijuan Tan & Addie Thompson & Laurence Willard Bretonne & Gustavo los Campos, 2023. "Leveraging data from the Genomes-to-Fields Initiative to investigate genotype-by-environment interactions in maize in North America," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    16. Baumann, Elias & Kern, Jana & Lessmann, Stefan, 2019. "Usage Continuance in Software-as-a-Service," IRTG 1792 Discussion Papers 2019-005, Humboldt University of Berlin, International Research Training Group 1792 "High Dimensional Nonstationary Time Series".
    17. Alexandra M. Cheney & Stephanann M. Costello & Nicholas V. Pinkham & Annie Waldum & Susan C. Broadaway & Maria Cotrina-Vidal & Marc Mergy & Brian Tripet & Douglas J. Kominsky & Heather M. Grifka-Walk , 2023. "Gut microbiome dysbiosis drives metabolic dysfunction in Familial dysautonomia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    18. repec:cup:judgdm:v:16:y:2021:i:1:p:201-237 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. C. Gabriel Hidalgo Pizango & Eurídice N. Honorio Coronado & Jhon del Águila-Pasquel & Gerardo Flores Llampazo & Johan de Jong & César J. Córdova Oroche & José M. Reyna Huaymacari & Steve J. Carver & D, 2022. "Sustainable palm fruit harvesting as a pathway to conserve Amazon peatland forests," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 5(6), pages 479-487, June.
    20. Myrto Pantazi & Olivier Klein & Mikhail Kissine, 2020. "Is justice blind or myopic? An examination of the effects of meta-cognitive myopia and truth bias on mock jurors and judges," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 15(2), pages 214-229, March.
    21. Loreto A Correa & Cecilia León & Juan Ramírez-Estrada & Álvaro Ly-Prieto & Sebastián Abades & Loren D Hayes & Mauricio Soto-Gamboa & Luis A Ebensperger, 2021. "One for all and all for one: phenotype assortment and reproductive success in masculinized females," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 32(6), pages 1266-1275.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:15:p:8188-:d:607137. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.