Reducing Social Avoidance Among Adolescents With Special Educational Needs

Trial statusNot yet recruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age16-19
SponsorThe Hong Kong Polytechnic University

About this trial

The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the effectiveness of a Virtual Reality (VR) social avoidance intervention in reducing social avoidance symptoms among adolescents with special educational needs. Participants will complete tasks in the VR scenario with increasing difficulty and learn that they can cope in situations that they previously avoid. We hypothesize that, comparing with usual care (i.e. waitlist control), the intervention group will experience a significant reduction on social avoidance symptoms after treatment and this benefit will persist till 1-month follow-up.

Eligibility criteria

Qualifiers

Age 16-19

Can read traditional Chinese and understand Cantonese

Self-report on experiencing social avoidance symptoms

Disqualifiers

History of photosensitive epilepsy

Impairment of stereoscopic vision

Balance problems

Trial design

Treatments tested in this trial

  • VR Social Avoidance Intervention

Treatment groups

208 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groups

Sponsors and collaborators

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Lead sponsor

Chinese University of Hong Kong

Collaborator