Sargisson, Rebecca J.Wallace, Rory2024-08-022024-08-022024https://hdl.handle.net/10289/16730Emetophobia (fear of vomiting) is an understudied disorder that affects 0.2% of people, with extreme (non-phobic) fear affecting up to 8% of people. The most effective treatment for specific phobias is exposure therapy. One exposure therapy approach, virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), has become a viable treatment alternative to traditional in vivo or imaginal exposure therapy in recent years. However, using VRET to treat emetophobia has not yet been explored. I used a within-subjects, multiple-baseline-across-participants design with six participants to evaluate the emetophobia programme of oVRcome, a low-cost, Aotearoa New Zealand-based VRET app. After using the oVRcome VRET app, all participants’ phobia severity reduced on one or both measures, with two participants scoring below the threshold for a likely phobia diagnosis. The emetophobia programme of the oVRcome VRET app was effective at reducing emetophobia severity, and my results support research showing eHealth apps can be a low-cost and effective treatment for a range of psychological issues.enAll items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.appemetophobiaexposure therapymultiple baselineThesis