Background: The management of obesity requires lifestyle-based interventions covering
nutrition, physical activity, and behavior. As part of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT),
body image therapy approaches can be used not only by psychotherapists. One tool to
conduct behavioral therapy is virtual reality (VR). It is unknown, whether nutrition experts
conduct behavioral therapy, and whether they would like to use VR technology as a tool
to conduct body image therapy as part of obesity management.
Objective: This survey aimed to collect data from nutrition experts treating people with
obesity about the status quo regarding behavioral and body image therapy as part of
obesity management, and regarding their attitude toward VR in obesity therapy.
Methods: The survey was conducted online in autumn 2020. Participants were recruited
digitally through expert and professional associations. The standardized questionnaire
included items concerning sociodemographic, professional status, behavioral therapy,
body image, and VR. The descriptive analysis was performed with Excel, the subgroup
analyses with R.
Results: Data from 158 nutrition experts was analyzed. Participants were mostly female
(98/102, 96.1%) and had a mean age of 45.6 ± 11.3 years (n = 101). Most of the
survey participants (93/124, 75.0%) stated to use behavioral treatment methods in case
of weight reduction as the primary target. More than half of the participants stated to
address body image (99/150, 66.0%). Almost all (111/112, 99.1%) nutrition experts
have never used VR-glasses. The suitability and importance of VR technology as part
of obesity therapy was estimated as neutral by around 50%. Overall, no statistically
significant difference could be shown between age groups regarding attitudes toward
VR in obesity treatment.
Conclusion: The results of this non-representative survey indicate that nutrition experts
do not use VR technology in nutrition counseling sessions to treat obesity. In addition,
survey participants have a positive attitude to VR technology, whereas they are not familiar
Gemesi et al. Virtual Reality and Behavioral Therapy
with this technology. In future, VR technology might support nutrition experts of every
age using elements of body image therapy
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:85830 |
| Date | 06 June 2023 |
| Creators | Gemesi, Kathrin, Holzmann, Sophie Laura, Hochrein, Regine, Döllinger, Nina, Wienrich, Carolin, Weinberger, Natascha-Alexandra, Luck-Sikorski, Claudia, Holzapfel, Christina |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 787832 |
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