VR therapy could help more young people access treatment for needle phobia, after a trial found it reduced fear in adolescents.
The automated treatment uses a virtual coach to guide young people through gradual exposure to needles in a controlled digital setting.
The study suggests the approach could widen access to therapy for a common fear that can stop young people from attending vaccinations and blood tests.
The study was led by the University of Oxford and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
It was the first clinical trial of a VR treatment for needle fears in adolescents and found that the automated therapy substantially reduced fears in young people aged 12 to 15.
Needle fear affects around 20 to 50 per cent of adolescents.
Prof Daniel Freeman, consultant clinical psychologist at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, 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 programme 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.”
Several vaccinations are given during the teenage years, including those for tetanus, diphtheria, polio, meningitis and human papillomavirus, known as HPV.
HPV is a common virus that can cause some cancers, including cervical cancer, and vaccination is part of the UK government’s plan to eradicate cervical cancer by 2040.
The NHS aims to vaccinate 90 to 95 per cent of adolescents, but currently reaches 70 to 75 per cent.
Around 10 to 20 per cent of the shortfall is linked to fear of needles, according to the study.
The VR therapy takes about 2.5 hours to complete and was developed by researchers from the University of Oxford.
It is based on gradual exposure, a psychological approach that helps people face feared situations step by step so they can learn to cope with them.
A group of young people with needle fears helped design the programme.
The therapy is set in a high school and is guided by a virtual coach called Farah.
Users work through five levels of exposure: looking at needles, picking up needles, using needles, observing needle procedures and receiving needle procedures.
The tasks build from seeing virtual needles in display cases to piercing balloons with needles, injecting a penguin and a giant, and watching a person being vaccinated.
The final scene takes place in a school gym, where a nurse gives a vaccination into the user’s virtual arm.
Dr Eve Twivy, trial clinical psychologist at the University of Oxford’s department of experimental psychology, 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.
“People may fear that something bad will happen, such as the procedure going wrong, being very painful, or being unable to cope. We wanted to help young people feel less afraid by interacting with virtual needles through a series of playful and informative activities.
“Facing fears is challenging, but young people in our trial were motivated to complete the programme and found it helpful.”
