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Research into augmented reality app for people with mysophobia

20 June 2024
A team of researchers led by Tara Donker, associate professor of clinical psychology at VU Amsterdam, receives a grant to investigate the app ZeroOCD. They are examining the (cost-)effectiveness of ZeroOCD, an augmented reality smartphone app for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The researchers receive the funding from THCS, an umbrella organisation of several funding bodies in Europe.

Worldwide, one in 10 people need mental health care at some point, while only nine professionals are available for every 10,000 people. In the Netherlands, more than 80,000 people were on the waiting list for mental health care in 2022, half of whom had to wait more than 14 weeks for treatment. This gap between supply and demand creates major challenges for health systems worldwide and is only expected to widen.

Donker: "Our goal is to increase access to effective mental health care in a scalable and cost-effective way." In the study, they are developing and evaluating ZeroOCD, an innovative augmented reality (AR) app based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), specifically for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, specifically fear of contamination. This app can be downloaded on their own smartphone and allows them to learn to cope with their symptoms in AR with minimal support from a therapist. "We will compare the (cost) effectiveness of ZeroOCD with CBT via video calls among 180 participants in four different countries." The study will be conducted in Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Donker: "We are very happy to be able to conduct this study, as it is an important step towards improving access to mental health care worldwide."

This research involves collaboration with Per Carlbring (professor at the University of Stockholm), Thomas Berger (professor at the University of Bern), Tom van Daele (researcher at the Thomas More college), Doruk Eker (creative developer at ORB Amsterdam) and GGZ institutions Stichting Valk (Kelly Pax, Leiden, the Netherlands) and Bern outpatient clinic (Tobias Krieger, Bern, Switzerland). At VU Amsterdam are involved: Chris van Klaveren (professor of empirical methodological innovation), Ilja Cornelisz (associate professor of methods and statistics) and Heleen Riper (professor of eMental-Health).

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