Effects of a Virtual Reality Intervention on Mental Health Outcomes and Academic Success in Physical Therapy Students

February 5, 2025 updated by: Sue Curfman, Belmont University

The Effects of a Virtual Reality Intervention on Mental Health Outcomes and Academic Success in First Year Physical Therapy Students

Exploring the impact of a virtual reality program, First Resort on graduate physical therapy student wellness and academic success.

Study Overview

Status

Enrolling by invitation

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This study is exploring the impact of an 8-week virtual reality intervention among graduate physical therapy students. Self-report measures of anxiety, depression and stress will be collected pre/post to assess the impact of the virtual reality intervention.

Purpose:

  1. Determine if there is an impact of a virtual reality intervention on symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress levels in first year physical therapy doctoral students
  2. Explore correlations between performance, anxiety, depression, stress and First Resort use in first year physical therapy doctoral students
  3. Explore the feasibility of use of First Resort app in first year physical therapy doctoral students

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

23

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 Locations

  • United States
    • Tennessee
      • Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37212
        • Belmont University

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Physical Therapy students enrolled at a single university in the southern United States during the fall 2024 semester

-

Exclusion Criteria:

Patient Health Questionnaire-8 score of 15 or more General Anxiety Disorder-7 score of 15 or more History of seizures History of motion sickness History of epilepsy History of balance impairment History of significant visual History of auditory impairment

-

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: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention
8 week First Resort virtual reality navigated through Meta Quest II headset devices
Other: First Resort
First Resort is an 8-week, self-guided, at-home, virtual reality program designed to be navigated via Meta Quest II headset devices and will be used as an intervention.
Other Names:
  • First
Other: Delayed experimental intervention group
8 week First Resort virtual reality navigated through Meta Quest II headset devices delayed by one semester
Other: First Resort
First Resort is an 8-week, self-guided, at-home, virtual reality program designed to be navigated via Meta Quest II headset devices and will be used as an intervention.
Other Names:
  • First

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Patient Health Questionnaire-8
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Self-reported questionnaire most frequently used worldwide for the screening and severity assessment of depression. Minimum score of 0 indicating no or minimal depression and maximum of 24 which is severe depression.
8 weeks
General Anxiety Disorder-7
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Self-reported questionnaire to measure or assess the severity of generalized anxiety disorder. Minimum score of 0 indicating no or minimal anxiety and maximum of 21 which is severe anxiety.
8 weeks
Perceived Stress Scale-10
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Self-reported measure of global perceived stress. Minimum score of 0 indicating low perceived stress and maximum of 40 which high perceived stress.
8 weeks
Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Self-reported questionnaire assessing satisfaction with the intervention. Minimum score of 8 indicating low satisfaction and maximum of 32 which is very high satisfaction.
8 weeks
Self-reported Cumulative Grade Point Average
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Participants self-report the overall semester grade point average. 0.0-4.0 with 0.0 indicating failure and 4.0 indicating all A's.
8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The exit survey included several questions about Life style factors
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Participants will be asked about sleep and exercise behaviors throughout the study. They will also be asked if they had mental health support during the study, such as counseling or psychiatric care.
8 weeks
Patient Health Questionnaire-2
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Self-reported questionnaire most frequently used worldwide for the screening and severity assessment of depression. Minimum score 0 indicating low likelihood depression and maximum of 6 which indicates positive screen for depression.
8 weeks
General Anxiety Disorder-2
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Self-reported questionnaire to measure or assess the severity of generalized anxiety disorder. Minimum score 0 indicating low likelihood of anxiety and maximum of 6 which indicates positive screen for anxiety.
8 weeks
Qualitative feedback_Focus groups
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Describe experience with study through open-ended questions informing discussion portion of the paper.
8 weeks
Descriptive categorical
Time Frame: 8 weeks
This is descriptive and categorical data delivered through Qualtrics using single choice from multiple categorical responses. This included descriptive information about sleep, exercise habits, and other consults sought by participants.
8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Belmont University

Collaborators

BehaVR LLC

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sue E Curfman, PT, DHSc, Belmont University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

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)

August 16, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

May 15, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 15, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 16, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 20, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

August 22, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 5, 2025

Last Verified

February 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • BelmontU

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

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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.

Clinical Trials on Depression

Clinical Trials on First Resort

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Saudi Arabia

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe