Crafting Virtual Realities: Designing a VR End-User Authoring Platform for Personalised Exposure Therapy

Abstract Exposure therapy (ET) gradually introduces people to the objects, animals, or situations they fear to help them overcome the angst with that source of anxiety. VR(ET) enables exposure to various triggers in the safety of the clinical or home environments. While prior work has explored how specific VR environments support therapy in contexts such as social anxiety or arachnophobia, therapy’s individualised nature is often overlooked. We used an iterative participatory design approach to develop an authoring platform for therapists, enabling them to tailor VR environments during exposure by changing and parameterising elements and reapplying past scenes. We used this platform as a design probe in a study with ten therapists to elicit discussions about the design of VRET experiences and therapists’ authoring needs. Findings highlight the value of controlling the stimuli presented to patients and deviating from stereotypical scenarios, and the importance of further investigating the therapist’s virtual representation.