Body Composition, Cardiovascular Fitness, Depressive Symptoms, Mood States, Physical Activity Levels, Situational Interest, Situational Motivation
Conditions
Keywords
Exergaming, Physical Activity, Virtual Reality, Video games, VR games, Physical Activity Levels, Cardiovascular fitness
Brief summary
The purpose of this research is to examine the effectiveness of a 4-week immersive-virtual reality (VR) exercise bike intervention on college students' physiological outcomes (physical activity levels, cardiovascular fitness, and body composition) and psychological outcomes (situational motivation, situational interest, mood states, and depressive symptoms).
Interventions
DEVICEVR-based exercise bike
For the intervention group, participations exercised on an immersive VR-based exercise bike for one hour, twice per week, for 4 weeks. Participants in the control group were asked to maintain their usual routine after the baseline test for 4 weeks. Participants were scheduled separately coming to lab for the post-test after 4 weeks and all participants received the identical assessments in aforementioned physiological and psychological outcomes.
OTHERUsual routine
Participants were asked to maintain their usual activities, without engaging in any other physical activity intervention during the 4-week study period.
Sponsors
University of Minnesota
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 35 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* College students age from 18 to 35 years old who are currently enrolled in the university * College students without diagnosed physical and/or mental disabilities * Must be willing to provide informed consent and compete the PA Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q) * Must be willing to be randomized into an intervention or control group * no self-reported motion sickness symptoms during immersive VR-based exercise
Exclusion criteria
* Students under the age of 18 or over the age of 35 years old or not currently enrolled in the university * Having self-reported physical and/or mental disabilities * Contradictions to PA participation as determined by PAR-Q responses * having motion sickness reaction when exercising under VR-based condition.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Exercise Motivation | Baseline, and 4 weeks | Participants' motivation were assessed by the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnire-2 (BREQ-2). The BREQ-2 has 19 items assessing the continuum of behavioral regulation in exercise, which included amotivation, external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and intrinsic regulation. |
| Mood States | Baseline, and 4 weeks | Participants' mood states were measured by the Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS). The BRUMS assesses mood across six subscales (anger, confusion, depression, fatigue, tension, and vigor) using a 24-item questionnaire with responses ranging from 0 (not at all) to 4 (extremely). |
| Depressive Symptoms | Baseline, and 4 weeks | The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to assess participant's depressive symptoms. This is a 21-item, self-report rating inventory that measures characteristic attitudes and symptoms of depression. The total score was calculated to the evaluate the severity of depressive symptoms. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiovascular fitness levels | Baseline, and 4 weeks | Investigators asked participants to step on and off of a 12-inch plyometric box for 3 minutes to the beep of a metronome set to 96 beats-per-minute, with each beep corresponding with one leg movement. Immediately following the completion of the test, the principal investigator measured participants' heart rate for 60 seconds via palpation of the radial artery on the underbelly of the left wrist. |
| Percent of body fat | Baseline, and 4 weeks | Percent of body fat (%BF) were measured by Tanita BC-558 IRONMAN Segmental Body Composition Monitor. |
| Physical activity levels | Baseline, and 4 weeks | Physical activity levels were assessed via International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The IPAQ assesses three specific types of activity: walking, moderate-intensity activities, and vigorous-intensity activities. It asks participants to recall the time (in minutes) spent on each of these activities in the past 7 days. Each participant were assigned an accelerometer to wear during each 60-minute exercise session. Prior to the start of the intervention, participants were asked to wear an accelerometer for one week for measuring their physical activity levels. In addition, the investigators asked participants to wear the accelerometer for another week at the completion of 4-week intervention. |
| Body Mass Index | Baseline, and 4 weeks | Participant height (cm) and weight (kg) were measured using a stadiometer and a Tanita BC-558 IRONMAN Segmental Body Composition Monitor, respectively, in theUniversity of Minnesota's Physical Activity Epidemiology Laboratory. Both height and weight were used to calculate BMI in kg/m². BMI was classified according to the following indicators: Underweight: BMI \< 18.5; Normal weight: BMI 18.5-24.9; Overweight: BMI 25-29.9; Obesity: BMI ≥ 30. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed