TY - CONF TI - AViR: A Virtual Reality based framework for psychological support after involuntary early pregnancy loss AU - Cameirao, Monica S AU - Fonseca, Ana T2 - 14th International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality & Associated Technologies. AB - The loss of an unborn child is a tragic event and, unfortunately, 1 in 5 pregnancies ends in a miscarriage in the first 20 weeks. The experience of an involuntary pregnancy loss, even in early stages, has been shown to be linked to persistent symptoms of post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression. Early psychological support has been shown to be key for coping with the grief and reducing the incidence of psychological disorders in the long term. However, professional psychological support for earlier pregnancy loss is often scarce or not available at health institutions. Virtual Reality (VR) based support delivery methods have been widely used in mental health applications for different disorders with very good acceptance and effectiveness. Nevertheless, no VR system has been specifically developed to provide psychological support after pregnancy loss. We propose AViR, a novel multi-scenario VR framework that leverages on the adaptability of VR and traditional psychological support protocols to deliver a personalized intervention specifically targeted at grief following early pregnancy loss. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022 ER -