Comparing 360-degree VR Video of Local vs Overseas Environment on Psychological Health

NCT07447310 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: JEP-2024-039
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 82
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Medical students frequently experience high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression due to intense academic pressures. While spending time outdoors in nature is a proven way to reduce these negative feelings, students rarely have the time to do so. This study aims to find out if using a 360-degree Virtual Reality (VR) headset to experience immersive nature environments can provide similar relaxing benefits. The main question this study attempts to answer is whether the type of nature environment matters: Does watching a familiar, local Malaysian nature scene reduce stress more or less effectively than watching a novel, overseas nature scene? The researchers hypothesize that a brief, 15-minute exposure to either 360-degree VR nature environment will successfully reduce short-term feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. Furthermore, they hypothesize that there will be a measurable difference in the psychological benefits between the local and overseas environments, driven by either the comfort of familiarity (local) or the distraction of escapism (overseas).

Conditions

Healthy Adult; Volunteer; Psychological Stress, Anxiety, and Depression Associated With Academic Pressure

Keywords

virtual reality; anxiety; general well-being; depression; 360-degree video

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Severity (DASS-21)

  Evaluated using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 Items (DASS-21). This 21-item self-report questionnaire measures the core symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress across three 7-item subscales. Items are rated on a 4-point Likert scale. Raw subscale scores are summed and multiplied by two to calculate final subscale scores. Higher scores indicate a greater severity of negative emotional symptoms.

  Baseline (T0 - immediately before the first 15-minute intervention), Day 0 (T1 - immediately after the first intervention), and Week 2 (T2 - immediately after the second intervention).

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Change in Subjective Psychological Well-Being (WHO-5)

  Baseline (T0 - immediately before the first 15-minute intervention), Day 0 (T1 - immediately after the first intervention), and Week 2 (T2 - immediately after the second intervention).

Study Arms (2)

Local VR Group

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants assigned to this group will exclusively view the local 360-degree VR environment.

Behavioral: Local Environment 360-degree VR Video

Overseas VR Group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants assigned to this group will exclusively view the overseas 360-degree VR environment.

Behavioral: Overseas Environment 360-Degree VR Video

Interventions

Local Environment 360-degree VR Video BEHAVIORAL

Participants undergo a 15-minute viewing of a 360-degree local environment video via a VR headset. This session is repeated once, exactly two weeks after the initial session.

Also known as: Malaysian Environment

Local VR Group

Overseas Environment 360-Degree VR Video BEHAVIORAL

Participants undergo a 15-minute viewing of a 360-degree overseas environment video via a VR headset. This session is repeated once, exactly two weeks after the initial session.

Also known as: Western European Environment

Overseas VR Group

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• Academic Status: Actively enrolled as a fourth-year or fifth-year undergraduate medical student at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).
• Age: 18 years of age or older (necessary for providing legal informed consent).
• Sensory Ability: Normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing (the participant can wear contact lenses or glasses that comfortably fit inside the VR headset).
• Availability: Willing and able to commit to the full 2-week study timeline, including both the baseline and follow-up VR sessions.

You may not qualify if:

• VR Safety (Neurological): Personal history of epilepsy, seizure disorders, or frequent migraines, as VR screens can occasionally trigger these conditions.
• VR Safety (Vestibular): History of severe motion sickness, vertigo, or inner ear disorders.
• Confounding Medical Factors: Currently receiving active, formal psychiatric treatment or taking prescribed psychoactive medications (such as antidepressants or anxiolytics).
• Physical Limitations: Severe visual or auditory impairments that would prevent full immersion in the visual and auditory elements of the VR environment.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre: lead

Study Sites (1)

Psychiatry Department, Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz UKM

Cheras, Selangor, 56000, Malaysia

Location

Related Publications (8)

• Annerstedt M, Jonsson P, Wallergard M, Johansson G, Karlson B, Grahn P, Hansen AM, Wahrborg P. Inducing physiological stress recovery with sounds of nature in a virtual reality forest--results from a pilot study. Physiol Behav. 2013 Jun 13;118:240-50. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.05.023. Epub 2013 May 18.

  PMID: 23688947 BACKGROUND

• Martin JL, Saredakis D, Hutchinson AD, Crawford GB, Loetscher T. Virtual Reality in Palliative Care: A Systematic Review. Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Jun 29;10(7):1222. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10071222.

  PMID: 35885749 BACKGROUND

• Quek TT, Tam WW, Tran BX, Zhang M, Zhang Z, Ho CS, Ho RC. The Global Prevalence of Anxiety Among Medical Students: A Meta-Analysis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Jul 31;16(15):2735. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16152735.

  PMID: 31370266 BACKGROUND

• Tanja-Dijkstra K, Pahl S, White MP, Auvray M, Stone RJ, Andrade J, May J, Mills I, Moles DR. The Soothing Sea: A Virtual Coastal Walk Can Reduce Experienced and Recollected Pain. Environ Behav. 2018 Jul;50(6):599-625. doi: 10.1177/0013916517710077. Epub 2017 Jun 14.

  PMID: 29899576 BACKGROUND

• White MP, Alcock I, Grellier J, Wheeler BW, Hartig T, Warber SL, Bone A, Depledge MH, Fleming LE. Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Sci Rep. 2019 Jun 13;9(1):7730. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-44097-3.

  PMID: 31197192 BACKGROUND

• Anderson AP, Mayer MD, Fellows AM, Cowan DR, Hegel MT, Buckey JC. Relaxation with Immersive Natural Scenes Presented Using Virtual Reality. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2017 Jun 1;88(6):520-526. doi: 10.3357/AMHP.4747.2017.

  PMID: 28539139 BACKGROUND

• Iqbal S, Gupta S, Venkatarao E. Stress, anxiety and depression among medical undergraduate students and their socio-demographic correlates. Indian J Med Res. 2015 Mar;141(3):354-7. doi: 10.4103/0971-5916.156571.

  PMID: 25963497 BACKGROUND

• Dahlin M, Joneborg N, Runeson B. Stress and depression among medical students: a cross-sectional study. Med Educ. 2005 Jun;39(6):594-604. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02176.x.

  PMID: 15910436 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Stress, Psychological; Anxiety Disorders; Depression

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Mental Disorders

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: INVESTIGATOR
• Masking Details: The participants are assigned a unique ID and this ID by itself does not indicate whether they are doing the local or the overseas environment. The completed questionnaires that are then tabulated into a spreadsheet by the investigator before the grouping are revealed at the end by matching the participant ID with their respective group.
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: The participants are randomly divided into two groups using Python randomization script. Group A will only experience the local environment while Group B will only experience the overseas environment.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 25, 2026
• First Posted: March 3, 2026
• Study Start: November 15, 2024
• Primary Completion: July 1, 2025
• Study Completion: August 31, 2025
• Last Updated: March 3, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

MY (1)