Abstract
Obesity is one of the world’s most serious health issues. Therefore, therapists have looked for methods to fight obesity. Currently, technology-based intervention options in medical settings are very common. One such technology is virtual reality (VR) which has been used in the treatment of obesity since the late 1990s. The main objective of this study is to review the literature on the use of VR in the treatment of obesity and overweight to better understand the role of VR-based interventions in this field. To this end, four databases (PubMed, Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science) were searched for related publications from 2000 to 2022 using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). From the 645 articles identified, 24 were selected. The main strength of this study is that it is the first systematic review to focus completely on the use of VR in the treatment of obesity. It includes most research in which VR was utilized to carry out the intervention. Although several limitations were detected in the reviewed studies, the findings of this review suggest that employing VR for self-monitoring of diet, physical activity, and/or weight is effective in supporting weight loss as well as improving satisfaction of body image and promoting health self-efficacy in overweight or obese persons.
Highlights
The main objective of this study is to review the literature on the use of virtual reality (VR) in the treatment of obesity and overweight to better understand the role of VR-based interventions in this field
The remaining 58 articles were downloaded for a full-text review, after which we eliminated another 34 articles: ten articles presented a protocol without results, five articles reported previous studies, five articles evaluated healthy-weight participants, four articles did not target adults, three articles did not exist, three articles described non-VR intervention, two articles were book chapters, one article reported studies already included, and one study reported preliminary data
As the studies in this review demonstrate, virtual reality technology has the potential to be used to assess and treat obesity
Summary
The studies included in this review focused mostly on exposure to psychological, diet, or physical activity as virtual stimuli to promote behavioral weight loss treatment. The most commonly utilized verbs in study objectives statements were “evaluate” (n = 4), “examine”. The majority of studies were centered on the participants’ weight loss (n = 14) and/or on experiences related to certain phenomena related to weight loss (n = 10). To provide a greater sense of immersion, isolation, and possible vulnerability, half of the trials used visual immersive technology with a head-mounted display (HMD) and voice communication (12/24, 50%). A total of 11 studies used audio and visual stimuli via PC or mobile device and headsets to enable interaction between the user and the virtual world (11/24, 46%). One more study used a motion sensing input device with RGB cameras and infrared projectors and detectors (1/24, 4%). Motion sensors are used to measure the movement of the participants in order to motivate them
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