Track: Human Factors and Ergonomics

Abstract

Social changes in education caused by the Covid-19 pandemic have caused the online learning process to be more intensive which has led to an increased sense of isolation and independence, thus becoming a source of pressure for students. Continuous pressure can lead to generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), a serious mental illness that causes loss of work productivity and decreased quality of life. This mental disorder is most common in individuals with an age range of 18 to 23 years who are at the university level. The most common treatment technique used for GAD is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), as technology develops, this therapy has evolved into virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET). The combination of exposure therapy and VR allows users to experience digital versions of anxious real situations. In the diagnosis of GAD, psychologists use standard psychometric questionnaires as measurement methods such as the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7) questionnaires. Recently, another incipient and imperative method of valuation of anxiety has been formed by considering the use of physiological constructs such as EEG. Through EEG monitoring, the level of anxiety in individuals can be detected and measured efficiently. In this study, there are two groups of subjects one of which received two anxiety management techniques by VRET (mindfulness and imagery) called treatment group and the other received one anxiety management technique by VRET (imagery) called control group. The results of this study indicate that the two EEG channels used such as AF7 and AF8 channels in the treatment group and control group showed a significant decrease in power spectrum after receiving treatment using VRET. Then the control group after receiving VRET, the AF7 and AF8 channels experienced a decrease in the power spectrum while the TP9 and TP10 channels experienced an increase in the power spectrum. The use of the STAI psychometric questionnaire in this study was carried out to validate measurements with EEG which showed that in the treatment group before VRET as many as 63% of the questionnaire results were subjects with high anxiety, and after receiving VRET the level experienced a significant decrease which was dominated by subjects with low anxiety as much as 53%. In the control group before VRET had questionnaire results as much as 72% of the subjects had low anxiety and the rest had moderate anxiety, then after receiving VRET the subject experienced a decrease in anxiety which all subjects had low or minimal anxiety.