Diaphragmatic Breathing During Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Aviophobia

NCT02990208 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: BREATH150521014
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 30
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

The study investigated the effect of diaphragmatic breathing as an additional coping strategy during Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy in patients with aviophobia. The authors assumed that diaphragmatic breathing (DB) would lead to less fear and physiological arousal during the VRET and to an enhanced treatment outcome

Conditions

Fear of Flying

Keywords

Diaphragmatic Breathing; Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in FFS (Fear of Flying Scale) scores

  The Fear of Flying Scale (FFS; German version (Mühlberger \& Pauli, 2011)) covers 21 flight situations (e.g., planning the trip, boarding a plane, turbulence during the flight) rated on a 5-point Likert scale

  immediately before the exposure session, immediately after the exposure session, immediately before the test session (which took place one week after the exposure session), immediately after the test session, in a follow up (one year later)

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Change in fear ratings

  both during the VR flights (consisting of four 2-min phases each) of the exposure and the test session. Ratings were asked one minute after the beginning of each phase of each flight.

• Change in heart rate

  during the four 2-min phases of each of the three VR flights of the exposure session and of each of the two VR flights of the test session.

• Change in electrodermal activity (skin conductance level)

  during the four 2-min phases of each of the three VR flights of the exposure session and of each of the two VR flights of the test session.

• Change in self-efficacy scores

  immediately before the exposure session, immediately after the exposure session, immediately before the test session (which took place one week after the exposure session), immediately after the test session, in a follow up (one year later)

Study Arms (2)

VR exposure + diaphragmatic breathing

EXPERIMENTAL

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy + Diaphragmatic breathing

Behavioral: Diaphragmatic breathing; Behavioral: Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

VR exposure

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

Behavioral: Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

Interventions

Diaphragmatic breathing BEHAVIORAL

Patients trained in the technique of diaphragmatic breathing were instructed to take a breath by contracting the diaphragm and were trained to maintain their respiration frequency. They were told to inhale through the nose for four seconds and exhale through the mouth for six seconds (six cycles per minute). Patients then had five minutes to practice by following verbal breathing instructions provided over headphones. During VR exposure breathing instructions were provided via headphones. Diaphragmatic is thought to reduce arousal on the physiological level (Hazlett-Stevens \& Craske, 2009) but at the same time not to divert attention from the feared situation to the same extent as other coping strategies

VR exposure + diaphragmatic breathing

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy BEHAVIORAL

Exposure to fear-evoking stimuli is conducted more often in virtual environments using simulators or similar computer-technologies (Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy, VRET). One great advantage of using VR-technologies is that it is possible to create an environment which is highly controllable by its creators. Feared stimuli or scenarios can be varied on individual purposes and presented several times. This facilitates the practice of exposure-based treatments especially for situations or places difficult to access or requiring a considerable amount of time and/or money (e.g. being in war zones or a passenger on a flight), where in vivo exposures have often not been conducted or only in a limited manner (Mühlberger \& Pauli, 2011)

VR exposure; VR exposure + diaphragmatic breathing

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 20 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• age 20 to 65
• flying experience
• subjective rating of fear of flying \> 60 from 100

You may not qualify if:

• pregnancy
• heart disease
• current involvement in psychotherapy and/or pharmacotherapy

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Regensburg: lead

Related Publications (1)

• Shiban Y, Diemer J, Muller J, Brutting-Schick J, Pauli P, Muhlberger A. Diaphragmatic breathing during virtual reality exposure therapy for aviophobia: functional coping strategy or avoidance behavior? a pilot study. BMC Psychiatry. 2017 Jan 18;17(1):29. doi: 10.1186/s12888-016-1181-2.

  PMID: 28100203 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Aerophobia

Interventions

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Desensitization, Psychologic; Behavior Therapy; Psychotherapy; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 5, 2016
• First Posted: December 13, 2016
• Study Start: January 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: October 1, 2015
• Study Completion: October 1, 2015
• Last Updated: December 13, 2016

Record last verified: 2016-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share