Simon Fraser University

Published purpose

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of global disability. Cognitive remediation, a behaviorally based cognitive training method, improves performance on cognitive tests in MDD, but benefits have limited transfer to real world settings. Immersive virtual reality (VR), which presents tasks in interactive and naturalistic environments, has the potential to enhance the real world applicability of cognitive remediation. As part of a previous R&D effort, the University of British Columbia and NRC have collaboratively developed the bWell Cognitive Care Platform for Depression (bWell-D), which addresses cognitive deficits associated with MDD. In this Project, a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted to acquire evidence that bWell-D meets feasibility criteria to advance to a largescale definitive RCT to fully validate clinical efficacy. Preliminary estimates of efficacy and outcome variance will optimize the protocols for the large-scale trial. Comprehensive datasets will be collected, including clinical rating scales, functional/quality of life measures, neurocognitive testing, highly grained VR exercise logs and electroencephalography (EEG). Using multivariate and machine learning techniques, brain based predictors and mediators of cognitive change will also be examined, with the potential to open the door to individualized remediation strategies.