Oxford: University develops virtual reality therapy for NHS

A new study has found that the automated treatment can reduce needle fear in adolescents through immersive exposure therapy.

Led by the University of Oxford and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the study is the first clinical trial of VR therapy for needle phobia in young people.

Published in The Lancet: eClinical Medicine, the trial targeted young people aged 12 to 15.

Prof Daniel Freeman, consultant clinical psychologist at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, said: “It is crucial that young people feel comfortable with the idea of vaccination, blood tests, and other medical procedures involving needles.

“Needle fear can be successfully treated using gradual exposure to needles and related stimuli.

“This helps the person learn that they can cope around needles.

“But because of a shortage of therapists very few people are able to access such help.

“Virtual reality offers an exciting way to get therapy that works for the people that need it.

“Our needle fears program runs on inexpensive consumer VR headsets.

“There is a virtual therapist, so treatment is automated.

“People find it easier to approach the objects they fear in VR because they know they’re not real, yet the learning made still transfers to the real world.

“And VR allows us to present stimuli in ways that are therapeutic but impossible in the real world, making treatments more engaging, accessible, and effective.”

Around 20 to 50 per cent of adolescents experience needle phobia, which can impact routine immunisation programmes.

NHS vaccination targets remain below ideal levels, with 10 to 20 per cent of the shortfall attributed to fear of needles.

The VR therapy lasts only 2.5 hours and was designed in collaboration with young people who have needle fears.

Set in a high school environment, users are guided by a virtual coach named Farah who explains needle phobia, offers encouragement, and describes each step of the programme.

Dr Eve Twivy, trial clinical psychologist at the University of Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology, said the use of VR went beyond distraction techniques.

Dr Twivy said: “VR has previously been used as a distraction from anxiety or pain during needle procedures.

“Instead, we targeted the fear that makes many people avoid these procedures.”

The therapy uses a step-by-step exposure approach, starting with looking at needles and progressing through handling, using, and observing needle procedures.

Scenarios range from piercing balloons with needles to injecting a penguin and a giant to a final gym-set school scene, in which a nurse gives a vaccination into the user’s virtual arm.