NCA’S INNOVATION PILOT USING VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) SOLUTIONS IN HUMANITARIAN GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE (GBV) PROGRAMMING

Gender-based violence (GBV) and other manifestations of gender inequality have a deep impact on women’s and girls’ mental health and psychosocial well-being. In humanitarian contexts, many challenges hinder GBV survivors’ access to the specialised mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services they need to recover. Specialised MHPSS services and trained providers are not widely available, yet 1 in every 10 people is estimated to need mental health care at any one time.

Norwegian Church Aid continually seeks to improve the quality and choice of care for GBV survivors so that they can heal from trauma, reconnect with their communities, and be agents of social change. With support from Innovation Norway, this GBV innovation project sought to explore the use of virtual reality (VR) as a medium through which therapeutic interventions can be delivered to GBV survivors. To do this, NCA engaged in an innovation-friendly procurement process, resulting in partnerships with two private sector companies—Healium and Fornix—to develop and test two VR-based psychosocial interventions in northern Iraq.

“This is the best experience for me. I felt like I was in a dreamland! The amount of peace and safety is unbelievable. I didn’t want it to finish. This helped me to relax and all my stress faded away!”

- Participant

Transforming MHPSS services

Therapeutic uses of VR have the potential to transform MHPSS service delivery worldwide. VR-assisted psychosocial interventions have shown promising results in addressing a range of mental health issues, including trauma, social phobias, depression and low self-compassion. VR is touted as a safe place to learn, fail, and practise new ways of being, free from judgment and stigma; however, VR’s application in humanitarian settings is limited, yet growing. NCA’s pilot project hopes to contribute learning to the humanitarian sector about safe and effective ways to use this technology.

Our Solutions:

HEALIUM

Healium is an off-the-shelf mental fitness tool that offers users a new, active approach to meditation that is powered by the body’s electricity via a neurofeedback device with EEG sensors. Healium uses real-time data to train the brain and heart so users can self-manage their anxiety, focus, and sleep. It consists of a catalogue of nature-based VR meditation experiences.

NCA created a 7-session group module with 6 participants per group who simultaneously went through one of the nature-based meditation experiences and then debriefed afterward. Groups took place within two of NCA’s Women & Girls Safe Spaces in northern Iraq. Of note, the Healium groups experienced no drop outs (i.e., full retention of participants), universal satisfaction, and consistent reduction of distress.

“Women used to say, ‘Wow! We’re going to different world’ and they used to talk about it to their family. They said it reduces negative thoughts and sleep problems. Women wanted to do it more than once a week.”

– NCA Caseworker

Fornix

Together with NCA, Fornix developed a solution from scratch specifically tailored for NCA’s GBV programming in humanitarian contexts. It is an interactive application designed to support and empower survivors of GBV, providing essential resources and assistance for their journey towards healing and recovery. The solution consists of two virtual spaces: a private room that only the user can access and a communal area where multiplayer activities are possible. Each space contains different therapeutic activities or stations. For example, the private room has a Containment exercise via voice recording, as well as a painting station.

NCA integrated the Fornix solution within one-on-one case management with survivors, as a tool to provide psychosocial support based on each survivor’s specific psychosocial needs. Data collection is ongoing regarding efficacy, but initial response has been positive. NCA will also soon explore the multiplayer functions.

Private Room:	Communal Area:

Our Process:

The below graphic outlines the innovation process that NCA used in this pilot.

More information about the process can be found in Innovation Norway’s guide here.

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Here are the learning products produced by the project:

If you are interested in the full evaluation report, please contact us at linda.nordby@nca.no or eva.knutsen@nca.no.

To learn more about the project or explore the possibility of using these solutions in your work, please contact linda.nordby@nca.no or eva.knutsen@nca.no.