Fighting Substance Dependency Combining AAT Therapy and Virtual Reality with Game Design Elements
Tanja Joan Eiler, Armin Grünewald, Rainer Brück · 2019
Smoking poses a significant health risk and is still the main cause of premature mortality today. The Approach Avoidance Task (AAT) developed by Rinck and Becker aims to develop a substance dependence therapy that can reach the digital society. In this paper, a demonstrator that transfers the AAT procedure into virtual reality (VR) is presented. This demonstrator was used to carry out an evaluation with twenty participants who were asked to use the program and evaluate it by means of questionnaires and interviews. In addition, the reaction times (RTs) of the test persons were recorded and evaluated. The results show that the transfer of the AAT procedure to VR is possible and promising. Above all, the use of three-dimensional scenarios and objects, with which one interacts during the training, were well received and increased the immersion as well as the felt embodiment. The use of game design elements has also proved helpful and has had a positive influence on user motivation.