title: Virtual shopping: A viable alternative to direct assessment of real life function?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Real-life function is markedly impaired in schizophrenia and is an important outcome for interventions, but direct assessment is time consuming and resource intensive. Virtual reality (VR) enables assessment using simulation, akin to real life (RL), but allowing greater experimental control, reliability, and a more timely assessment. This study explores whether VR simulation predicts RL performance in supermarket shopping and how both relate to underlying cognitive abilities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty three people with DSM-IV schizophrenia were included in the study. Participants were required to shop for items using a self-directed search in both RL and VR. In each task, accuracy (number of correct items) and efficiency (time taken and number of aisles entered) were measured. IQ, executive function, working memory, spatial memory and social cognition were also assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Specific correlations were found between RL accuracy and VR accuracy, and between RL and VR efficiency measures. Multiple regression analyses indicated that VR efficiency measures contributed significant unique variance to RL efficiency outcomes, in addition to that explained by background cognitive measures, with a final model predicting 58% of variance in RL efficiency.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  VR functional shopping measures may enhance predictions of real life performance, over and above existing cognitive test procedures, and provide a more time-efficient method for evaluating real life outcomes.
authors.affiliation: R&D Department, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, UK; School of Psychology, University of Sussex, UK. Electronic address: k.e.greenwood@sussex.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Kathryn E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Greenwood
authors.affiliation: Kings College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), UK.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.affiliation: Kings College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), UK.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: R&D Department, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
authors.forename: Anna-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Kings College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), UK.
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pearman
authors.affiliation: Kings College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), UK.
authors.forename: Til
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wykes
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012938:Social Perception; D065852:Spatial Memory; D013997:Time Factors; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Functional outcome; Measurement; Schizophrenia