Extinguishing the Use : implementing Virtual Reality in substance use disorder treatments for patients with a mild intellectual disability or Borderline Intellectual Functioning

This project involves implementing a virtual reality (VR) system into typical Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment sessions for patients with an intellectual disability (MID-BIF). Individuals diagnosed with MID-BIF form an at-risk group for a SUD. Their substance use can be explained by specific characteristics including inadequate coping mechanisms, imagery defects, poor memory functioning, and social factors like peer pressure. SUD treatments for these patients are possible using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) protocols, adapted to the needs of this group. Virtual reality (VR) is an operative way to immerse patients within the therapy addiction treatment sessions, supporting the patient to focus on the treatment and not on their disability. A VR prototype is designed and created for this project and holds four virtual rooms (situations) patients can navigate. An interactive video of the virtual world is developed for non-face-to-face user testing (due to COVID-19 regulations). The VR prototype is evaluated through online interviews with these dual diagnosis patients and relevant clinical professionals from Tactus, a treatment facility in Enschede, Netherlands. The test is whether these patients can effectively state how risky the situation is to smoke marijuana in terms of color (green, orange, or red), as well as state what self-control techniques they can practice during the video. The results of this project show that the VR prototype can be implemented, adds value to SUD treatment sessions for MID-BIF patients, and is recommended to test with patients face-to-face with VR equipment in future work.