None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This study integrated medical education experience and VR technology to simulate a day in the life of a depressed medical student in order to explore the efficacy of an immersive VR experience in enhancing the empathy of medical students and then evaluate the user experience of this VR system in different aspects. We hypothesized that VR would increase the attitude and empathy among the two controlled groups.
Interventions
The virtual reality (VR) in the interventional group depicts a character as a depressed medical student and comprises three scenes. In the school setting, she wakes up from a nap, struggles to concentrate and take notes in her pharmacology course, and learns about her unsatisfactory test score during a post-class discussion. Feeling uneasy about the conversation, she avoids it, leading to inquiries from concerned classmates. This discomfort prompts her to ruminate on negative memories. The hospi
The virtual reality (VR) in the interventional group depicts a character as a depressed medical student and comprises three scenes. In the school setting, she wakes up from a nap, struggles to concentrate and take notes in her pharmacology course, and learns about her unsatisfactory test score during a post-class discussion. Feeling uneasy about the conversation, she avoids it, leading to inquiries from concerned classmates. This discomfort prompts her to ruminate on negative memories. The hospital scene portrays her helplessness as a doctor hurriedly asks questions. At home, she isolates herself, loses interest in playing the guitar, resorts to her cellphone for solace, and encounters distressing social news. Amid parental criticism, she hesitates to join friends for a reunion, ultimately contemplating a tragic decision and swallowing all her drugs. The VR utilizes an HTC VIVE Cosmos, developed with Unity 2019 software and connected to the VIVE device via Steam VR 2.6.1. The video's duration is 16:20 minutes, administered in a single session at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital seminar room, supervised by investigators. A comparison with the control treatment reveals distinct elements in the intervention group, such as blurred faces, dim lighting, repeated internal monologue, and unattainable tasks designed to simulate characteristics of depression like inattention, a monotonous and boring life feeling, ruminating thoughts, and fatigue.
Sponsors
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
fifth-year and sixth-year medical students of any gender from Chang Gung University
Exclusion criteria
medical students who had previously trained in the psychiatry department.
Outcome results
None listed