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Piloting Virtual Reality Environments to Treat PTSD in Healthcare Workers

NCT04887116 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: EARLY_PHASE1 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 20

Last updated 2025-10-28

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Healthcare workers and COVID-19 patients may experience psychological distress consequent to the pandemic, and are at particularly elevated risk for experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), based on evidence from previous infectious disease outbreaks. The best-validated treatment for PTSD is exposure therapy. Exposure therapy help patients suffering from PTSD to revisit and overcome their traumatic experiences. Including virtual reality in exposure therapy has a long history in treating PTSD; and has been used to treat military veterans and first-responders following 9/11. The investigators are developing and testing a virtual environment to treat PTSD including sub threshold PTSD symptoms in HCWs who experience occupational related trauma (e.g., working with COVID-19 patients) and COVID-19 patients. An independent evaluator will assess symptoms of PTSD and other psychopathology, using structured clinical interviews and self-report measures with well-established psychometric properties, at baseline, halfway through treatment, after completion of treatment, and at three-months post-treatment. Participants will complete ten ninety minute sessions (in-person or remotely), twice a week for five weeks aimed at mitigating their symptoms of PTSD. Remote participants will receive VR headsets after the baseline assessment and will keep them for the duration of the study. The pilot study will aim to demonstrate the feasibility and the tolerability of the virtual reality intervention in these populations.

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

Ten ninety minute sessions of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy twice a week for five weeks, either remotely or in person.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Cornell University

    collaborator OTHER

  • Weill Medical College of Cornell University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • JoAnn Difede, PhD · Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2023-10-05
Primary Completion
2027-01-31
Completion
2027-01-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Diseases
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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT04887116 on ClinicalTrials.gov