ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2020
Measuring Alliance Toward Embodied Virtual Therapists in the Era of Automated Treatments With the Virtual Therapist Alliance Scale (VTAS): Development and Psychometric Evaluation.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Usability and User Experience Assessment of Health Care Conversational Agents Using Validated Subjective Instruments: Systematic Review and Comparative Analysis.JMIR human factors · 2026Pooled it
- The Working Alliance Inventory's Measurement Properties: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- A randomised controlled test of emotional attributes of a virtual coach within a virtual reality (VR) mental health treatment.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Alliance With an Unguided Smartphone App: Validation of the Digital Working Alliance Inventory.Assessment · 2022Trial
- Anna vs. Judith: A randomized comparison of AI-delivered psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral therapies for social anxiety disorder.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Features and functionality of the Iterapi platform for internet-based psychological treatments: An update.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Real-world use of large language models for mental health in 2024.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Association between working alliance and treatment outcomes in a mobile health intervention with a conversational agent (CanRelax).Internet interventions · 2026Article
- User Experience and Socioemotional Evaluation of Virtual Therapist Character Types in a Simulated Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy: Quantitative Study.JMIR XR and spatial computing · 2026Article
- Examining the Potential of Social Robots to Increase Adherence in Internet-based CBT.International journal of social robotics · 2026Article
- Sine of the times: Can sinusoidal waves model changes in the therapeutic alliance over time?Internet interventions · 2025Article
- Virtual Humans in Virtual Reality Mental Health Research: Systematic Review.JMIR XR and spatial computing · 2025Review
- Mental health in the virtual world: Are we ready for the metaverse era?World journal of methodology · 2024Article
- Artificial intelligence as a virtual coach in a cognitive behavioural intervention for perfectionism in young people: A randomised feasibility trial.Internet interventions · 2024Article
- Mental health in the virtual world: Challenges and opportunities in the metaverse era.World journal of clinical cases · 2024Review
- Evidence for Bidirectional, Cross-Lagged Associations Between Alliance and Psychological Distress in an Unguided Mobile-Health Intervention.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2024Article
- Validation of the Attitudes Towards Psychological Online Interventions Questionnaire Among Black Americans: Cross-cultural Confirmatory Factor Analysis.JMIR mental health · 2023Article
- A new era in Internet interventions: The advent of Chat-GPT and AI-assisted therapist guidance.Internet interventions · 2023Article
- Online consultations in mental healthcare: Modelling determinants of use and experience based on an international survey study at the onset of the pandemic.Internet interventions · 2022Article
- Electrophysiological correlates of in vivo and virtual reality exposure therapy in spider phobia.Psychophysiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAutomated virtual reality exposure therapies (VRETs) are self-help treatments conducted by oneself and supported by a virtual therapist embodied visually and/or with audio feedback. This simulates many of the nonspecific relational elements and common factors present in face-to-face therapy and may be a means of improving adherence to and efficacy of self-guided treatments. However, little is known about alliance toward the virtual therapist, despite alliance being an important predictor of treatment outcome.
objectiveIn this study, we aimed to evaluate the first alliance instrument developed for use with embodied virtual therapists in an automated treatment format-the Virtual Therapist Alliance Scale (VTAS)-by (1) assessing its psychometric properties, (2) verifying the dimensionality of the scale, and (3) determining the predictive ability of the scale with treatment outcome.
methodsA psychometric evaluation and exploratory factor analysis of the VTAS was conducted using data from two samples of spider-fearful patients treated with VRET and the help of an embodied, voice-based virtual therapist (n=70). Multiple regression models and bivariate correlations were used to assess the VTAS relationship with treatment outcome, according to self-reported fear and convergence with presence and user-friendliness process measures.
resultsThe VTAS showed a sound two-factor solution composed of a primary factor covering task, goal, and copresence; adequate internal consistency; and good convergent validity, including moderate correlation (r=.310, P=.01) with outcomes over follow-up.
conclusionsThese preliminary results suggest that alliance toward a virtual therapist is a significant predictor of treatment outcome, favors the importance of a task-goal over bond-factor, and should be explored in studies with larger sample sizes and in additional forms of embodiment.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.