The Use of a Virtual Reality Intervention on Stigma, Empathy and Attitudes Towards People With Psychotic Disorders

The Use of a Virtual Reality Intervention on Stigma, Empathy and Attitudes Towards People With Psychotic Disorders Among Mental Healthcare Professionals

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of a VR intervention on (1) stigma, (2) empathy and (3) attitudes towards those experiencing mental disorders.

Participants will review a VR intervention, and complete questionnaires at pre-test, post-test and one month follow-up.

Researchers will compare the VR intervention with a control VR intervention to evaluate the varying effects on stigma, empathy and attitudes towards those experiencing mental disorders.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Mental Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: VR intervention; Other: VR control intervention

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 180
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Singapore
  • Singapore, Singapore, 539747
    • Recruiting
    • Institute of Mental Health
    • Contact: Jing Ling Tay, PhD; Phone Number: 2337 6389; Email: jing_ling_tay@imh.com.sg

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants who are aged at least 21 years old
• Employed by the Institute of Mental Health as a physician, allied health professional or nurse.
• understands English
• work directly with patients.

Exclusion Criteria:

• unable to use virtual reality interventions due to reasons including motion sickness, disorientation, nausea and vomiting.
• history of epilepsy

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention group; The VR intervention was created using the Unreal Engine software (Unreal Engine, 2022). The VR intervention includes the scenario of a home. Participants will view the home as a first person character and experience psychotic phenomena including auditory hallucinations. The intervention will be delivered in one setting and lasts no more than seven minutes. It will be disseminated using smartphone inserted into VR headset equivalent of google cardboard.	Other: VR intervention; VR intervention of no more than 7 minutes Participants viewed the home as a first person character and experience psychotic phenomena including auditory hallucinations.
Active Comparator: VR control group; The VR control group will view the scenario of the same home without the simulated visual and auditory hallucinations.	Other: VR control intervention; VR intervention of no more than 7 minutes Participants viewed the same home as a first person character without psychotic phenomena

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Desire for Social Distance	Desire for Social Distance Scale The eight questions are rated on a four-point Likert scale: yes, definitely (0), yes, probably (1), probably not (2) and definitely not (3) with greater scores implying greater desire for social distancing.	pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention, follow-up at 1 month after intervention
Personal Stigma	Personal Stigma Scale Personal Stigma Scale consisted of two subscales: 'Personal unpredictable/ dangerousness' and 'Personal weak not sick' The questions were calculated as 'strongly agree' (4) to 'strongly disagree' (0), with greater scores implying greater stigmatizing attitudes.	pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention, follow-up at 1 month after intervention
Empathy	Empathetic concern sub-scale of Interpersonal Reactivity Index The 7-item sub-scale is measured on a five point likert scale ranging from 'does not describe me well' (0) to 'describes me very well' (4).	pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention, follow-up at 1 month after intervention
Attitudes towards those experiencing mental disorders	modified Attitudes Towards People with Schizophrenia scale The 7-item scale is measured on a nine point likert scale ranging from (1) to (9). Greater scores equate better attitude towards people with schizophrenia.	pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention, follow-up at 1 month after intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Demographic data	occupation, gender, marital status, ethnic groups, age, years of service	pre-intervention
Acceptability of the intervention	Authors constructed questionnaire to assess for acceptability of intervention. A total of 10 questions consisting of 6 multiple choice questions ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree on a 7-point likert scale. An example of one question is, 'I find the intervention engaging'. It also consists of 4 open ended questions. Example of one question is, 'Please list the strength of the intervention'	immediately after the intervention
Safety of VR intervention	Visually induced motion sickness susceptibility questionnaire: It consists of six questions that evaluates presence of adverse effects from using the VR intervention from 'never' (0) to 'often' (3).	immediately after the intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Institute of Mental Health, Singapore

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 17, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 17, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 24, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 1, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): August 8, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 11, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 9, 2023
• Last Verified: October 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders; Psychotic Disorders; Mental Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2023/00027

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No