Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Inpatients

The Y-BOCS is a 19-item scale assessing the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Raw score range from 0 to 40, where 0 = no symptoms and 40 = very severe symptoms with highly impaired daily functioning.

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is a 21-item, self-report rating inventory that measures characteristic attitudes and symptoms of depression.

BAI is an inventory of anxiety symptoms with 18 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale (0-4). Score range from 0 to 72, with higher scores indicating more severe anxiety symptoms.

Four questions aimed at gathering information about how patients managed to perform exposures during the past week and to what extent the skills acquired during the VR exposure therapy were useful.

The Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-X2 (STAI-X2) is used to measure self-reported symptoms of trait anxiety with higher score indicating higher anxiety levels (score range 20-80).

The 6-item short form of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory is used to measure self-reported symptoms of state anxiety with higher score indicating higher anxiety levels.

The SUDS is a visual analog scale in which the participant rates his/her anxiety/discomfort based on a range between 1 (no anxiety/discomfort) and 10 (very severe anxiety/discomfort).

The patient is asked to develope a hierarchy of feared situations ranging from most-feared at the top to least-feared at the bottom. Then, he/she rates anticipated fear, anxiety or distress for each item (score 1-10, with higher score indicating higher anxiety) - according to how distressing they feel it would be to encounter that situation. The hierarchy is used to guide a process of VRET sessions.

BIS is a 30-item scale used for self-assessment of impulsivity. Participants rate each item on a 4-point scale. Total score range from 30 to 120, where higher scores indicate higher impulsivity.

CFI is self-report measure of the type of cognitive flexibility necessary for replace maladaptive thoughts with more balanced thinking. It has 20-items that participants evaluate on a 7-point Likert scale. The total score ranges from 20 to 140 and higher scores indicate more cognitive flexibility.

The scale includes 3 subscales SP (spatial presence), INV (involvement) and REAL (experienced realism) with score range 0-7. Higher scores indication higher sense of presence. This measure might be positivelly associated with positive outcome.

The scale evaluates cybersickness symptoms in three subscales: nausea (N), oculomotor disturbance (O), disorientation (D). Total simulator sickness raw score 0-48 (adjusted total score 0-180). Higher scores on each scale indicate stronger perceptions of the underlying sickness symptoms and are therefore undesired. This measure might be negatively associated with positive outcome and sense of presence.