Virtual Reality to Cope With Academic Stress

NCT05828329 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: IB4958/22PI
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 20
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The new technologies may facilitate the teaching-learning process through the ubiquitous and active approach. However, stress from academic exams remains being high among undergraduate students. Although new technologies could be useful to simulate and control academic stressful situations through immersive virtual reality, no studies to date have evaluated its effectiveness. This study is designed to evaluate the effects of a virtual reality program to visualize stressful academic situations like exams on the level of psychological and physiological stress and academic performance of Physiotherapy and Nursing undergraduate students. To this end, an experimental study with two experimental groups and one control group is designed: experimental group 1 (EG1) will complete a 4-weeks program of guided visualization of exams through immersive virtual reality; experimental group 2 (EG2) will complete a 4-weeks program of traditional guided visualization of exams (through audio); control group (CG) will not receive any visualization program, as the most habitual strategy to cope with exams among students. Before and after the intervention period, all students will fulfill an online questionnaire to inform about their level of academic stress (SISCO inventory) and perceived stress from the last month (Perceived Stress Scale). Also, just before starting the exam they will have been visualizing, level of stress (0 to 10 points), blood pressure (mmHg), maximal heart rate (ppm) and salivary cortisol level will be assessed in all students. Qualifications of the exam will be also collected. Intra-group differences and between-group differences at post-intervention time will be obtained.

Conditions

Stress, Physiological; Stress, Psychological

Keywords

Education; Virtual Reality; Students

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Academic stress

  Between-group and intra-group differences in academic stress, which will be registered with the SISCO Inventory version-21. This is the 21-items "Inventario SIStémico COgnoscitivista" for the study of the academic stress, composed by 21 items: the first item is dichotomous (yes-no) and the remaining 20 items are 5-point Likert scale, scored from 1 (never) to 5 (always). The maximal punctuation is 100 (maximal stress).

  4 weeks

• Perceived stress in the last month

  Between-group and intra-group differences in perceived stress of the last month, which will be registered with the Perceived Stress Scale. This survey has 10 questions (using Likert scales from 0-5, being 0 never and 5 very often). To interpret this questionnaire, individual scores can range from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher perceived stress.

  4 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Level of current perceived stress

  Immediately before the exam

• Blood pressure

  Immediately before the exam

• Maximal heart rate

  Immediately before the exam

• Salivary cortisol level

  Immediately before the exam

• Exam qualification (0 to 10 punctuation) pondered by the average qualification of the degree

  One week after the exam (an only measurement)

Study Arms (3)

Experimental group 1

EXPERIMENTAL

The program with virtual reality will consist of a 30-minutes guided visualization session through virtual reality glasses. Students will visualize a 360º video that simulates the entire experience of an exam, from first person perspective.

Behavioral: Guided visualization of exams through immersive virtual reality

Experimental group 2

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

The 4-weeks program will consist of a 30-minutes traditional guided visualization session, by listening only the part of the audio used for EG1.

Behavioral: Guided visualization of exams through traditional method

Control group

NO INTERVENTION

This group will not receive any intervention, as the most used strategy to cope with exams among students.

Interventions

Guided visualization of exams through immersive virtual reality BEHAVIORAL

During 4 weeks (twice per week), students will visualize a 30-minutes 360º video that simulates the experience of an exam, from first person perspective.

Experimental group 1

Guided visualization of exams through traditional method BEHAVIORAL

During 4 weeks (twice per week), students will listen a 30-minutes audio that explains the experience of an exam from first person.

Experimental group 2

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• To be enrolled in at least 80% of subjects of an usual academic course during the year in which the study is carrying out.
• Not to have previous experience in guided visualization to cope with stressful situations.

You may not qualify if:

• Not to understand the Spanish language

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of the Balearic Islands: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of the Balearic Islands

Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, 07122, Spain

Location

Related Publications (3)

• Seabrook E, Kelly R, Foley F, Theiler S, Thomas N, Wadley G, Nedeljkovic M. Understanding How Virtual Reality Can Support Mindfulness Practice: Mixed Methods Study. J Med Internet Res. 2020 Mar 18;22(3):e16106. doi: 10.2196/16106.

  PMID: 32186519 RESULT

• Riva G, Banos RM, Botella C, Mantovani F, Gaggioli A. Transforming Experience: The Potential of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality for Enhancing Personal and Clinical Change. Front Psychiatry. 2016 Sep 30;7:164. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00164. eCollection 2016.

  PMID: 27746747 RESULT

• Lacey C, Frampton C, Beaglehole B. oVRcome - Self-guided virtual reality for specific phobias: A randomised controlled trial. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2023 May;57(5):736-744. doi: 10.1177/00048674221110779. Epub 2022 Jul 11.

  PMID: 35818296 RESULT

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Stress, Psychological

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Natalia Romero-Franco, PhD

  University of the Balearic Islands

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Participants will be randomly assigned with a code with which investigators and outcomes assessors will not be able to know from whom data are or the group to which participants belong.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Randomized controlled trial

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 29, 2023
• First Posted: April 25, 2023
• Study Start: April 2, 2023
• Primary Completion: July 9, 2023
• Study Completion: June 30, 2024
• Last Updated: July 11, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

ES (1)