(PS10-B42) A Comparison of Imaginal Exposure Therapy, Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy, and Their Combination, to Treat Aviophobia Using Teletherapy

Exposure therapy is considered the first line of treatment for phobias and can be conducted through in-vivo exposure, imaginal exposure, and virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), (Wolitzky-Taylor et al., 2008). In clinical work, a therapist may combine one or more of these exposure protocols to fit the needs of the patient. Research on teletherapy practices has deemed using video and audio technology platforms for therapy as effective as the typical face-to-face (f2f) model, across many domains (Langarizadeh et al., 2017). Teletherapy can additionally offer treatment access to those with barriers or a lack of care (Cherestal et al., 2021). This study will compare treatment outcomes of teletherapy conducted VRET, imaginal exposure therapy and a combined protocol of VRET and imaginal exposure therapy for individuals with aviophobia. It is predicted that all participants will fly at the end of treatment.
 

While an anxiety reduction in aviophobia is predicted at post-test for all participants who complete treatment, differences among the varying treatment protocol groups for these measures, as well as rates of flying, are not expected. Specifically, significant differences between treatment outcomes in the combined condition and the VRET condition are not predicted. The purpose of the study is to understand how a treatment protocol that combines two effective exposure protocols compares to previously established protocols. Understanding the efficacy of combined models is critical because it is representative of clinical practice.
 

Twenty-four individuals meeting criteria for fear of flying will be randomized to one of four conditions; imaginal exposure, VRET, combined imaginal then VRET, combined VRET then imaginal. The treatment protocol is comprised of an intake session and four treatment sessions. For the combined groups, two of the treatment sessions will employ imaginal exposure therapy and the other two sessions will utilize VRET. The two styles of exposure will be administered counterbalanced in the two groups. All participants will be required to book a graduation flight to obtain treatment. The Flight Anxiety Situations, and the Flight Anxiety Modality, will be administered at baseline, after the second treatment session, and after the final treatment session. Additionally, the Presence Questionnaire will be administered to subjects after session two and following the final treatment session for all conditions.
 

Data collection is being collected currently.