Recommendations for use
These environments expose patients to social situations in which they are surrounded by others and interact with their environments.
It is important to keep in mind that some events involve the patient giving a brief verbal response required by the situation of the specific event (requesting a change of drink from the waitress, for example). For this reason, the healthcare professional must have informed the patient about how the session will develop before beginning the exposure. Specifically, the healthcare professional must clarify the order to be followed between the different events, if they are going to carry out all or only some of them.
Exposure to this environment emphasizes the active role of the patient, who will have to interact with the social situation. The healthcare professional can model behaviors before exposing a patient to the VR environment, so that the patient can practice them in the environment.
At the end of the session, the healthcare professional can give feedback and, if necessary, repeat the exposure.