Avatar-based therapy within prison settings: pilot evaluation

ABSTRACT

The paper presents an introduction of a newly developed, avatar-based virtual reality therapy, as an addition to the therapeutic programme, within a therapeutic community prison in the UK. The participants had six group sessions facilitated by a counsellor. The aim of the project was to investigate whether this approach would improve mental health outcomes for the prisoners, interpersonal relationships within the prison and facilitate the achievement of personal goals for the prisoners. The sample size (n = 4) was insufficient to make firm conclusions about the mental health outcomes. However, the qualitative analysis showed a strong engagement with the programme in addressing personal issues, the development of insight and empathy, and improvements in relationships within the participants and with the counsellor. Further research with a larger sample is needed to establish efficacy of this type of therapy with the prison population.

KEYWORDS:

• Avatar-based therapy
• therapy in prisons
• ProReal therapy
• mental health
• rehabilitation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. In accordance with Taylor & Francis policy and my ethical obligation as a researcher, I am reporting that Andrew Jackson is a Chief Executive of ProReal Ltd. This has been disclosed fully to Taylor & Francis.

Notes on contributors

Dr Biljana van Rijn is a Faculty Head of Applied Research at Metanoia Institute in London. Biljana is a psychotherapist and a researcher with a particular interest in practice-based research. She was the principal investigator in this project.

Mick Cooper is a Professor of Counselling Psychology at the University of Roehampton and author of a range of texts on person-centred, existential and pluralistic approaches to therapy, as well as research findings. His latest book is ‘Existential psychotherapy and counselling: Contributions to a pluralistic practice’ (Sage, 2015).

Andrew Jackson is a Chief Executive of ProReal Ltd., who have developed the programme used in the project and gained the research grant for the project.

Ciara Wild, MSc Forensic Psychology, is a Coordinator of Clinical and Research Services at Metanoia Institute.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Small Business Research Initiative for Healthcare (SBRI Healthcare).