NCT07188623

Virtual Reality-Enhanced Behavioral Activation for Older Adults With Depression

VR-Enhanced BA for Older Adults With Major Depressive Disorder

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Stanford University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The primary aims of this study are to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and tolerability of using an immersive virtual reality (VR) headset to engage in behavioral activation (BA) for older adults diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD). The secondary aim of this study is to explore the efficacy of using VR to enhance BA therapy in a clinical MDD older adult population.

Detailed description

This research study is looking for older adults with depression to participate in a research study on the use of virtual reality (VR)-enhanced behavioral activation therapy for depression. The purpose of the study is to learn more about using VR to enhance behavioral activation as a treatment for MDD. Behavioral activation is defined as identifying pleasant and/or mastery activities, scheduling them into your calendar, and completing the identified activities during the week. The identification of pleasant and mastery activities will begin in session with a therapist and will include tracking the participant's hourly activities with the activity/ mood monitoring form and identifying how much pleasure and/or mastery the participant may feel when completing these activities. The following session, the participant and therapist will be able to identify patterns and discuss how to decrease unhelpful behaviors and explore the participant's interests and values to increase positive behaviors. The clinician will explain how to use the loaned VR headset, which looks similar to glasses. The participant will be asked to choose VR activities of interest to complete in between sessions and schedule them into their activity scheduling sheet. They will be asked to rate their mood before and after engaging with the VR headset. A discussion of barriers to completion and problem-solving will also be discussed in session. Once per week, the participant will also be asked to complete a post-VR questionnaire which will ask questions about presence felt in the headset, any physical discomfort while in the headset, and their feelings about the headset. During the last session, treatment and skills will be reviewed and the participant will be asked to provide verbal feedback.

Conditions

• Depression - Major Depressive Disorder
• Older Adults (65 Years and Older)
• Behavioral Activation Treatment
• Virtual Reality Therapy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	VR-Enhanced BA	Participants will choose at least one "activity" per day to complete in the loaned HTC VIVE Flow Immersive Glasses extended reality over the course of the week. These activities are chosen from the headset and include video 360.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-09-30
• Primary completion: 2026-08-01
• Completion: 2026-08-01
• First posted: 2025-09-23
• Last updated: 2026-02-20

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States