The impact of emotion regulation interventions on wellbeing has been extensively documented in literature, although only in recent years virtual reality (VR) technologies have been incorporated in the design of such interventions, in both clinical and non-clinical settings. A systematic search, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, was therefore carried out to explore the state of the art in emotion regulation interventions for wellbeing using virtual reality. The literature on this topic was queried, 414 papers were screened, and 11 studies were included, covering adults and older adults. Our findings offer an overview of the current use of VR technologies for the enhancement of emotion regulation (ER) and wellbeing. The results are promising and suggest that VR-based emotion regulation training can facilitate the promotion of wellbeing. An overview of VR-based training interventions is crucial for better understanding how to use these tools in the clinical settings. This review offers a critical debate on the structure of such intervention protocols. It also analyzes and highlights the crucial role played by the selection of the objective and subjective wellbeing assessment measures of said intervention protocols.

Chronic diseases represent one of the main causes of death worldwide. The integration of digital solutions in clinical interventions is broadly diffused today; however, evidence on their efficacy in addressing psychological comorbidities of chronic diseases is sparse. This systematic review analyzes and synthesizes the evidence about the efficacy of digital interventions on psychological comorbidities outcomes of specific chronic diseases. According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a systematic search of PubMed, PsycInfo, Scopus and Web of Science databases was conducted. Only Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) were considered and either depression or anxiety had to be assessed to match the selection criteria. Of the 7636 identified records, 17 matched the inclusion criteria: 9 digital interventions on diabetes, 4 on cardiovascular diseases, 3 on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and one on stroke. Of the 17 studies reviewed, 14 found digital interventions to be effective. Quantitative synthesis highlighted a moderate and significant overall effect of interventions on depression, while the effect on anxiety was small and non-significant. Design elements making digital interventions effective for psychological comorbidities of chronic diseases were singled out: (a) implementing a communication loop with patients and (b) providing disease-specific digital contents. This focus on “how” to design technologies can facilitate the translation of evidence into practice.

Focusing on healthcare, in the last few decades advanced technologies have become crucial keys in supporting subjective wellbeing. Among them, virtual reality has been proven to be effective for mental health promotion in several research studies. Although the dramatic development in the field of virtual reality system, there are still important problems related to the use of this technology. Within this perspective, the growing availability, low-cost and easy-to-use mobile virtual reality (i.e., the integration of virtual reality system on mobile devices such as smartphone and tablet) represents a meaningful opportunity to support mental health interventions. The chapter will first briefly describe mobile virtual reality. Then, a mobile virtual reality design practice will be presented. Finally, the current application of mobile virtual reality to enhance subjective wellbeing will be discussed with the support of concrete examples and research study analysis.