Desenvolvimento e validação de uma ferramenta em realidade virtual para identificação de fobia específica

Abstract

World Health Organization (WHO) indexes show that about 11 % world’s population are affected with some type of phobia. According to DSM-V (2013), phobia is defined as an uncontrollable and persistent fear, triggered by the anticipation of object’s presence or situations. Regarding treatment, cognitive-behavioral therapy is widely used in phobic patients because of its great effectiveness. One of the techniques used to prevent is in vivo exposure, which implies in the gradual exposure of the individual to its feared objects or situations. This study aimed to develop and investigate the use of virtual reality in the diagnosis of situational specific phobia of closed places, as well as to evaluate RV as a tool to help psychologists in the detection of claustrophobia. The method consisted of signing partnerships with institutions that have confined work environments, collecting and editing images. In order to validate the prototype, this was evaluated by psychologists presented simulations of VR from confined environments for further analysis of the data. From the evaluation of the usability of the software, it was verified that the psychologists interviewed validate the prototype with the potential to aid in diagnosis of specific situational phobias in closed environments. Therefore, the use of VR for admission examinations of employees to carry out risky work involving closed environments and confinement constitutes an extremely useful tool for the psychologist, since it does not need to expose the worker to the environment to conduct the tests.