Evaluation
“All the information contained in this section is for guidance only. Psious environments are therapy supporting tools that must be used by the healthcare professional within an evaluation and intervention process designed according to the characteristics and needs of the user.
Also remember that you have the General Clinical Guide in which you have more information on how to adapt psychological intervention techniques (exposure, systematic desensitization, cognitive restructuring, chip economy…) to Psious environments.”
Evaluation objectives
- Evaluate particular agoraphobia, panic attacks, amongst other phobias the presence and comorbidity of other emotional disorders, in particular agoraphobia, panic attacks, amongst other phobias.
- Evaluate anxiety associated with components: asphyxiation and restriction (lack of control).
- Set the feared stimulative settings for the patient and define to what extent. Exposure hierarchy development
- Evaluate the presence of distorted thoughts. In the case of NMR, in particular concerning asfixia, possible damage caused by the machine and the fear of losing control
Some useful tools in the evaluation of claustrophobia
Taking the evaluation objectives into account let’s proceed onto listing some tools that can be useful in gathering relevant information on your user characteristics. Always remember that good goal setting, patient characterization and intervention planning are important in effective and efficient therapies, as that for your patients’ satisfaction. In the bibliography you will find some articles where you can refer to see the characteristics of the instruments proposed below:
- Semi structured or open interview.
- Structured interview: ADIS-IV (panic differential , agoraphobia…)
Self-reports
- Unidimensional
- Claustrophobia Scale (CS)
- Multidimensional
- Claustrophobia Questionnaire (CLQ) – Adaptación española
- Claustrophobia Situations Questionnaire (CSQ)
- Claustrophobia General Cognitions Questionnaire (CGCQ).
- Psious self-report for hierarchy development
Exposure Hierarchy Development with Psiousʼ environments
Once we have the evaluation information we can then proceed on to developing the hierarchy exposure. We can carry out a series of questions, (for example: what level of discomfort is generated, on a scale of 0 to 100, when left waiting for an elevator on a landing? What level of discomfort is generated, on a scale of 0 to 100, when left enclosed in a small elevator full of people due to a breakdown? Can you think of anything else that would generate even more discomfort?) all geared at the planning of the intervention via the virtual reality.
Hierarchy Example
In the appendix you will find a self-report measure to obtain the exposure hierarchy using Psious’s environments.