Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality (VR/AR) Approach to Develop Social and Communication Skills in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders Without Intellectual Impairment.

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that affects a significant proportion of the world's population, particularly children and adolescents. The sensory processing issues can be an evidence-based target for therapeutic/corrective interventions by controlling the intensity and targeted replacement of maladaptive sensory stimuli with neutral stimuli using virtual reality or augmented reality. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We searched for articles on Pubmed. The search query included ((VR or virtual reality) or (AR or augmented reality)) and (children or adolescents) and (ASD or autism spectrum disorder or autism). RESULTS: Our criteria were met by 25 articles. 19 articles used VR, 5 articles used AR and 1 article used MR. Most interventions offer children and adolescents with ASD individualized tasks. Immersive VR games developed collaborative skills. Other systems encourage and teach directed facial gaze. Evaluation of the effectiveness of learning in VR/AR environment is carried out by means of different scales, qualitative analysis of surveys, questionnaires and interviews, studying the number and duration of eye contacts between the participant and the avatar. It should be noted that almost all studies were conducted on small samples, so their results allow us to draw only preliminary conclusions about the effectiveness of VR /AR. CONCLUSIONS: The following key areas of VR/AR technologies for children and adolescents with high-functioning ASD can be identified: communicating with an avatar, including answering its questions, tracking the child's gaze and encouraging the child to look at the face, placing it in social situations close to real life, practicing common everyday situations, learning to recognize emotions. A VR/AR-based therapy approach may help children with autism spectrum disorder without cognitive impairment to develop higher levels of adaptation in terms of social and communication skills. However, more research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of different methods.

Psychoactive substance use, internet use and mental health changes during the COVID-19 lockdown in a French population: A study of gender effect.

Introduction: COVID-19 has enormous impacts on each individual. The goals of our study were (1) to assess the rate of internet and psychoactive substance use, clinical depression and anxiety in a French population during the lockdown (2) to study the role of clinical and socio-demographic variables (especially, gender). Materials and methods: During lockdown, an online anonymous questionnaire was used to assess socio-demographic and health data, previous psychiatric history, anterior and current internet and psychoactive substance use, current anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. The associations of socio-demographic, clinical variables with anxiety, depression, internet or psychoactive substance use were examined. Results: The study included 263 participants (aged 38.1 ± 15.3-197 males and 64 females). During the lockdown, internet use increased in 14.4% of cases, alcohol use in 20.2%, and tobacco use in 6.8%. In contrast, more participants reported a decrease in alcohol, tobacco or illicit drug use (25.9, 24, and 27.8% respectively). Anxiety was reported in 62.4% and depression in 20.2% of cases; 29.7% of participants reported an increase in anxiety and 25.5% an increase in depression. Depression was associated with an increase in internet and tobacco use. Tobacco and alcohol use were positively associated and an increase in use was more frequent in previous users of both substances. Maintaining a daily routine and relationships with family, being self-employed were associated to lower risks of depression and anxiety. Conclusion: Higher rates of internet use, as well as depression and anxiety, were observed during the lockdown. Gender was not a significant associated factor.