Reducing blood draw phobia in an adult with autism spectrum disorder using low-cost virtual reality exposure therapy

Needle phobias are common in children and adults worldwide. One effective intervention for this phobia is exposure therapy where a participant is gradually exposed to increasing levels of the fear-evoking stimulus while differential reinforcement is applied. This intervention, however, may be difficult to implement with some medical procedures as it may be difficult to obtain unfettered access to medical facilities and equipment for the purposes of exposure. Virtual reality may overcome these obstacles.

In this investigation, the present authors developed a low-cost virtual reality-based exposure therapy which was used with an adult male with autism spectrum disorder and a history of extreme needle phobia. The effectiveness of this intervention was evaluated using a changing criterions design with generalization probes.

The intervention quickly increased the participant's compliance in the analogue training setting and the effects were generalized across settings and behaviours, and maintained over time.

The findings indicate combining virtual reality with exposure therapy may produce an effective intervention for medical phobias. The intervention package may remove barriers associate with traditional exposure therapy and was low-cost which may increase access to the intervention.