ABSTRACT
Live, instructor-led classroom-style training workshops are the traditional gold standard for disseminating empirically based psychotherapies, but while they effectively increase clinical competency and clinical outcomes, they are costly to produce as well as inaccessible to many providers. Alternatives to live, instructor-led workshops have been created to fill the gap, with varying degrees of success. One potential alternative is the use of a shared virtual environment to facilitate training. Shared virtual environments have moved beyond entertainment and are employed in a variety of real-world settings to enhance training and skill acquisition exercises for professionals. This chapter compares strengths and limitations of professional training in a virtual environment vs. a more traditional workshop format. The authors also review recent psychological applications of shared online virtual worlds for professional training in evidence-based practices, patient psychoeducation, and mental health treatment. The potential of these technologies to support behavioral health is also discussed, including the development of serious game experiences, the possibilities of practicing skills in advance of new intervention implementation, and the opportunity for patients to rehearse new skills in a virtual world prior to using them in the real world.
