Positive Youth Development in the Metaverse

December 9, 2023 updated by: Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, PHD, University of Georgia

Positive Youth Development in the Metaverse - Development of a Virtual Reality Afterschool Program for Middle Childhood Youth

This pilot study aims to leverage VR's capacity to easily replicate content and allow for multiple users to share the same space and engage in activities as if they're meeting in person. Integrating VR into afterschool programs will allow youth to receive more consistent programming content, even when they are unable to travel to the physical location for the in-person meetings.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This pilot study aims to leverage VR's capacity to easily replicate content and allow for multiple users to share the same space and engage in activities as if they're meeting in person. Integrating VR into afterschool programs will allow youth to receive more consistent programming content, even when they are unable to travel to the physical location for the in-person meetings. It will also empower youth to engage with the afterschool program at their own pace by providing a safe space to learn and practice their socioemotional skills. Implemented at scale, these benefits of a VR-integrated afterschool program will be able to address the issues of health inequity head on by expanding access to high quality afterschool content without incurring high operating costs. The results from this pilot study will provide a critical foundation to apply for an extramurally funded clinical trial to demonstrate the efficacy of a VR-integrated afterschool program on youth mental wellbeing.

Aim 1: Determine feasibility of a VR-integrated afterschool program where youth can access the VR content on their own at home.

Aim 2: Test the hypothesis that complementing the in-person afterschool program with VR will increase a) engagement and b) socioemotional competencies in youth.

Aim 3: Test the hypothesis that youth will demonstrate better mental wellbeing when the in-person afterschool program is complemented with VR.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

  • Name: Sun Joo Ahn, PhD
  • Phone Number: 706-542-4791
  • Email: sjahn@uga.edu

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Children enrolled in the Chess & Community program
  • Between the ages of 9-17
  • The parent/primary caregiver of these children

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Children who are unable to wear a VR headset will not be recruited

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Treatment
In the treatment group, the child will receive the VR-based curriculum in addition to receiving the devices to use for 8 weeks.
Behavioral: Virtual reality curriculum
Rather than rely on mere exposure to devices, participants in the treatment group will receive a curriculum that integrates the devices into traditional content delivered through the after school program.
Active Comparator: Control
In the control group, the child will still receive the devices to use for 8 weeks, but will not have the VR-based curriculum.
Behavioral: No Virtual reality curriculum
Children will be able to use the same devices but will not have access to a curriculum that integrates the devices with traditional content delivered through the after school program.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Self-regulation
Time Frame: One-time assessment post-treatment (at 8 weeks)
Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised ( 1-Almost always untrue, 2-Usually untrue, 3-Sometimes true, sometimes untrue, 4-Usually true, 5-Almost always true)
One-time assessment post-treatment (at 8 weeks)
Mental well-being
Time Frame: One-time assessment post-treatment (at 8 weeks)
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Not true = 0, Somewhat true = 1, Certainly true = 2)
One-time assessment post-treatment (at 8 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Engagement
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Number of hours of programming delivered for both in-person and VR
8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Georgia

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 15, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 29, 2024

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 29, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 19, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 4, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

May 15, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

December 15, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 9, 2023

Last Verified

December 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 00006669

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

De-identified data used in published analyses will be made available upon request to other researchers with a verified scientific purpose, guarantee that they will store the data securely, not share the data further, not attempt to use the data to determine the identities of research participants, and reference the source of the data in any resulting publications. Intellectual property rights to all software applications and hardware products will be maintained by the University of Georgia.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Verified scientific purpose, guarantee that they will store the data securely, not share the data further, not attempt to use the data to determine the identities of research participants, and reference the source of the data in any resulting publications

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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