A VR Intervention for Prosocial Behavior and Well-being Among Adolescents

NCT06504069 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: HSEARS20221208004-01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 160
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

The aim of this project is to examine the effectiveness of a gamified prosocial VR intervention.

Conditions

Adolescent

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (20)

• Prosocial attitudes

  Three items assessing prosocial attitudes will be revised from the Prosocial Orientation Questionnaire. Participants will rate each item on a 6-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). Higher scores on the scale indicate a greater presence of positive prosocial attitudes.

  Baseline (pre-intervention); immediately after the intervention (post-intervention); 1 month after intervention (follow-up)

• Prosocial identity

  The Internalization subscale of the Self Importance of Moral Identity Scale (SIMIS) will be used to measure the construct of prosocial identity. Participants will rate each item on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Elevated scores on the scale indicate a greater degree of prosocial identity.

  Baseline (pre-intervention); immediately after the intervention (post-intervention); 1 month after intervention (follow-up)

• Prosocial intention

  The Prosocial Behavioral Intentions Scale (PBIS) will be employed to evaluate individuals' future intentions to engage in prosocial behavior. Participants will rate each item on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (Definitely would not do this) to 7 (Definitely would do this). Increased scores on the scale indicate a greater inclination towards prosocial intentions.

  Baseline (pre-intervention); immediately after the intervention (post-intervention); 1 month after intervention (follow-up)

• Attitudes toward helping others

  The Attitudes toward Helping Others Scale (AHO) will be employed to assess individuals' attitudes towards helping others. Each item will be rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Elevated scores on the scale indicate a greater presence of positive attitudes towards helping others.

  Baseline (pre-intervention); immediately after the intervention (post-intervention); 1 month after intervention (follow-up)

• Altruism

  Two items from the Preference Survey Module (PSM) will be modified to measure altruism. One example item is as follows: "Imagine the following scenario: you have won 1,000 Euros in a lottery. Considering your present circumstances, how much of the prize would you donate to a charitable cause? (Values between 0 and 1000 are permissible)." Higher scores on this item indicate a higher level of altruistic behavior or tendencies.

  Baseline (pre-intervention); immediately after the intervention (post-intervention); 1 month after intervention (follow-up)

• Empathy

  The Single Item Trait Empathy Scale (SITES) will be utilized to assess levels of empathy. Participants will rate this item on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), with higher scores indicating a greater degree of empathy.

  Baseline (pre-intervention); immediately after the intervention (post-intervention); 1 month after intervention (follow-up)

• Life satisfaction

  The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) will be employed to evaluate levels of life satisfaction. Participants will rate each item on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree." Elevated scores on the scale indicate greater levels of life satisfaction.

  Baseline (pre-intervention); immediately after the intervention (post-intervention); 1 month after intervention (follow-up)

• Subjective happiness

  The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) will be utilized to assess participants' subjective happiness. Each item will be rated on a 7-point Likert scale. Elevated scores on the scale indicate a greater level of subjective happiness.

  Baseline (pre-intervention); immediately after the intervention (post-intervention); 1 month after intervention (follow-up)

• Affect

  The Emmons Mood Indicator will be employed to measure affect, encompassing two dimensions: Positive Affect and Negative Affect. Each item will be rated on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not at all) to 7 (extremely). Elevated scores on the scale indicate a higher level of affect.

  Baseline (pre-intervention); immediately after the intervention (post-intervention); 1 month after intervention (follow-up)

• Gratitude

  One item from the Gratitude Adjective Checklist (GAC) will be used to measure participants' gratitude. This item will be rated on a 7-point Likert scale. A higher score indicate a higher level of gratitude.

  Baseline (pre-intervention); immediately after the intervention (post-intervention); 1 month after intervention (follow-up)

• Subjective vitality

  Three items from the Subjective Vitality Scale (SVS) will be used to measure participants' subjective vitality. Each item will be rated on a 7-point Likert scale. Higher scores indicate a higher level of subjective vitality.

  Baseline (pre-intervention); immediately after the intervention (post-intervention); 1 month after intervention (follow-up)

• Self-esteem

  The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSE) will be used to measure self-esteem. Each item will be rated on a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 4(strongly disagree). Higher scores indicate higher levels of self esteem.

  Baseline (pre-intervention); immediately after the intervention (post-intervention); 1 month after intervention (follow-up)

• Daily well-being

  Daily well-being will be assessed using a single item ("How do you feel right now?") adapted from the Well-Being Manifestations Measure Scale (WBMMS) using a sliding scale ranging from 0 (not good at all) to 100 (very good). A higher score indicates a higher level of daily well-being.

  Daily monitoring for 5 weeks during the intervention

• Daily prosocial act

  Daily prosocial act will be measured by one item: "How many acts have you engaged today that involve helping someone else or doing something for a good cause?" Participants will indicate the number of prosocial acts from a drop-down menu ranging from 0 to 10+. The response of "0" will be classified as "no prosocial engagement," and responses of "1" or more will be classified as "having engaged in prosocial acts."

  Daily monitoring for 5 weeks during the intervention

• Daily subjective happiness

  Daily subjective happiness will be measured using a condensed 2-item adaptation of the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS). The first item will assess their self-perceived general happiness today on a scale from 1 (not at all happy) to 7 (very happy). The second item will gauge their comparative happiness to their peers during the same timeframe, ranging from 1 (less happy) to 7 (more happy). Higher scores indicate a higher level of daily subjective happiness.

  Daily monitoring for 5 weeks during the intervention

• Daily subjective vitality

  Daily subjective vitality will be assessed using 3 representative items from the 7-item Subjective Vitality Scale (SVS). All items will be rated on a 7-point scale (1 = not at all true to 7 = very true). Higher scores indicate a higher level of daily subjective vitality.

  Daily monitoring for 5 weeks during the intervention

• Daily affect

  Daily affect will be evaluated using the 9-item Emmons Mood Indicator. Participants will be instructed to rate the extent to which they experienced each emotion today using a 7-point scale (ranging from 1 = not at all to 7 = extremely). Elevated scores on the scale indicate a higher level of daily affect.

  Daily monitoring for 5 weeks during the intervention

• Daily gratitude

  Daily gratitude will be measured using one item from the Gratitude Adjective Checklist (GAC). This item will be rated on a 7-point Likert scale. A higher score indicates a higher level of daily gratitude.

  Daily monitoring for 5 weeks during the intervention

• Daily psychological needs

  Daily psychological needs will be assessed using a 9-item Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS). Each subscale, namely competence, autonomy, and relatedness, consists of 3 items rated on a 7-point scale (ranging from 1 = not at all true to 7 = very true). Higher scores indicate a higher level of daily psychological needs.

  Daily monitoring for 5 weeks during the intervention

• Daily self-esteem

  Daily self-esteem will be evaluated using 2 items from the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). Ratings will be evaluated on a 4-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly agree). Higher scores indicate a higher level of daily self-esteem.

  Daily monitoring for 5 weeks during the intervention

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Intervention satisfaction

  immediately after the intervention (post-intervention)

• Feelings in the VR

  immediately after the intervention (post-intervention)

• Levels of difficulty

  immediately after the intervention (post-intervention)

• Levels of interest

  immediately after the intervention (post-intervention)

Other Outcomes (1)

• Socio-demographic variables

  Baseline (pre-intervention)

Study Arms (2)

Prosocial VR Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in the VR intervention group will engage in a five-week gamified prosocial VR intervention program. The intervention will consist of five weekly sessions, each lasting between 10 to 15 minutes. Each session will depict a different daily life scenario, including a home, school, street, park, and shopping mall.

Behavioral: Prosocial VR intervention

Waitlist control group

NO INTERVENTION

Participants in the waitlist condition will not receive VR intervention during the study.

Interventions

Prosocial VR intervention BEHAVIORAL

A five-week gamified prosocial VR intervention program based on literature review and relevance to the local contexts will be developed for the proposed project. The intervention will be expanded to include five weekly sessions, each lasting between 10 to 15 minutes. Each session will depict a different daily life scenario-home, school, street, park, and shopping mall, respectively. During each session, participants will engage in a series of tasks that incorporate elements of prosocial behavior or helping actions within the scene. These tasks are designed to be more comprehensive and interactive, ensuring that participants are fully immersed in the experience for the entire duration of the session.

Prosocial VR Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 10 Years - 16 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• School students aged 10-16 (i.e., primary 5 to secondary 5);
• Able to communicate in Chinese.

You may not qualify if:

• Significant cognitive impairment;
• Self-reported severe motion sickness;
• Uncorrected visual impairment.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University: lead

Study Officials

• Bryant HUI, Ph.D.

  The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Tao Zhang

CONTACT

852-94233827; tao-t.zhang@connect.polyu.hk

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 26, 2024
• First Posted: July 16, 2024
• Study Start: September 1, 2024
• Primary Completion: September 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): September 1, 2026
• Last Updated: July 16, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-04