Treating children's aggressive behavior problems using cognitive behavior therapy with virtual reality: A multicenter randomized controlled trial

Sophie C. Alsem; Anouk van Dijk; Esmée E. Verhulp; Tycho J. Dekkers; Bram O. De Castro

doi:10.1111/cdev.13966

Treating children's aggressive behavior problems using cognitive behavior therapy with virtual reality: A multicenter randomized controlled trial

Sophie C. Alsem^*, Anouk van Dijk, Esmée E. Verhulp, Tycho J. Dekkers, Bram O. De Castro

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

This multicenter randomized controlled trial investigated whether interactive virtual reality enhanced effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to reduce children's aggressive behavior problems. Boys with aggressive behavior problems (N = 115; M_age = 10.58, SD = 1.48; 95.7% born in Netherlands) were randomized into three groups: CBT with virtual reality, CBT with roleplays, or care-as-usual. Bayesian analyses showed that CBT with virtual reality more likely reduced aggressive behavior compared to care-as-usual for six of seven outcomes (ds 0.19–0.95), and compared to CBT with roleplays for four outcomes (ds 0.14–0.68). Moreover, compared to roleplays, virtual reality more likely enhanced children's emotional engagement, practice immersion, and treatment appreciation. Thus, virtual reality may be a promising tool to enhance CBT effectiveness for children with aggressive behavior problems.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	e344-e361
Journal	Child Development
Volume	94
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13966
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research to the last author (grant number 453‐15‐004/511).

Funders	Funder number
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek	453‐15‐004/511

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Child Development - 2023 - Alsem - Treating children s aggressive behavior problems using cognitive behavior therapy withFinal published version, 2.16 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Treating children's aggressive behavior problems using cognitive behavior therapy with virtual reality: A multicenter randomized controlled trial",

abstract = "This multicenter randomized controlled trial investigated whether interactive virtual reality enhanced effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to reduce children's aggressive behavior problems. Boys with aggressive behavior problems (N = 115; Mage = 10.58, SD = 1.48; 95.7% born in Netherlands) were randomized into three groups: CBT with virtual reality, CBT with roleplays, or care-as-usual. Bayesian analyses showed that CBT with virtual reality more likely reduced aggressive behavior compared to care-as-usual for six of seven outcomes (ds 0.19–0.95), and compared to CBT with roleplays for four outcomes (ds 0.14–0.68). Moreover, compared to roleplays, virtual reality more likely enhanced children's emotional engagement, practice immersion, and treatment appreciation. Thus, virtual reality may be a promising tool to enhance CBT effectiveness for children with aggressive behavior problems.",

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Treating children's aggressive behavior problems using cognitive behavior therapy with virtual reality: A multicenter randomized controlled trial

Abstract

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