Dataset Information

Group Telegaming Through Immersive Virtual Reality to Improve Mental Health Among Adolescents With Physical Disabilities: Pre- and Posttrial Protocol.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Adolescents with physical disabilities have higher rates of mental health conditions and issues than adolescents without disabilities, and this disparity was exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. They also have limited access to on-site programs and nearby peers.

Objective

This pilot aims to investigate the potential effects of a low-dose multiplayer virtual reality telegaming program on depression, socialization, and loneliness among a cohort of children with physical disabilities. A secondary aim is to describe feasibility metrics, namely, recruitment and adherence rates and perceived program enjoyment and satisfaction. The tertiary aim is to describe behavioral mechanisms that affect participant adherence and social participation in the classes.

Methods

This study is a single-group pre- and posttest-designed trial. A single cohort of 12 children with physical disabilities will pilot a 1-month program that includes 2 supervised 1-hour sessions per week of group-based exergaming. Participants will complete questionnaires before and after the program. The primary aim measures will include the Children's Depression Inventory 2 Short Form, a measure of feelings of depression, and the UCLA Loneliness Scale, a measure of both loneliness and social isolation. Secondary aim measures will include three posttest Likert scale questionnaires: perceived program enjoyment, program satisfaction, and satisfaction with multiplayer experiences. At postintervention or dropout, participants will undergo semistructured interviews to identify behavioral mechanisms that underlie participation. Data will be reported descriptively and be supported by t tests as appropriate.

Results

Recruitment procedures started in July 2022. All data are expected to be collected by January 2023. Full trial results are expected to be published by March 2023. Secondary analyses of data will be subsequently published.

Conclusions

This trial tests a peer-to-peer virtual reality telegaming program that includes a completely remote enrollment, assessment, and intervention protocol. This program is accessible and short in duration and frequency, allowing it to be integrated into other interventions. Knowledge obtained from this study will inform the development of a larger trial for improving the mental health and well-being of adolescents with physical disabilities.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05259462; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05259462.

International registered report identifier (irrid)

PRR1-10.2196/42651.

SUBMITTER: Lai B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9614625 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Group Telegaming Through Immersive Virtual Reality to Improve Mental Health Among Adolescents With Physical Disabilities: Pre- and Posttrial Protocol.

Lai Byron B Davis Drew D Young Raven R Swanson-Kimani Erin E Wozow Cynthia C Chaviano Kelli K Rimmer James H JH

JMIR research protocols 20221013 10

<h4>Background</h4>Adolescents with physical disabilities have higher rates of mental health conditions and issues than adolescents without disabilities, and this disparity was exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. They also have limited access to on-site programs and nearby peers.<h4>Objective</h4>This pilot aims to investigate the potential effects of a low-dose multiplayer virtual reality telegaming program on depression, socialization, and loneliness among a cohort of children w ...[more]

PMID: 36194864

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Project description:BackgroundAdolescents with disabilities experience alarmingly higher rates of depression and isolation than peers without disabilities. There is a need to identify interventions that can improve mental health and isolation among this underserved population. Innovations in virtual reality (VR) gaming "standalone" headsets allow greater access to immersive high-quality digital experiences, due to their relatively low cost.ObjectiveThis study had three purposes, which were to (1) examine the preliminary effects of a low-cost, home-based VR multiplayer recreation and socialization on depression, socialization, and loneliness; (2) quantify the acceptability of the program as measured by participant adherence, total play time, and exercise time; and (3) identify and describe behavioral mechanisms that affected participant engagement.MethodsThis was a single-group, pre- to postdesign trial. The intervention was conducted at home. Participants were recruited from a children's hospital. The intervention lasted 4 weeks and included 2×1-hour sessions per week of supervised peer-to-peer gaming. Participants used the Meta Quest 2 headset to meet peers and 2 coaches in a private party held digitally. Aim 1 was evaluated with the Children's Depression Inventory 2 Short Form and the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale 20 items, which are measures of social isolation and loneliness, respectively. Aim 2 was evaluated through the following metrics: participant adherence, the types of games played, friendship building and playtime, and program satisfaction and enjoyment.ResultsIn total, 12 people enrolled (mean age 16.6, SD 1.8 years; male: n=9 and female: n=3), and 8 people completed the program. Mean attendance for the 8 participants was 77% (49 sessions of 64 total possible sessions; mean 6, SD 2 sessions). A trend was observed for improved Children's Depression Inventory 2 Short Form scores (mean preintervention score 7.25, SD 4.2; mean postintervention score 5.38, SD 4.1; P=.06; effect size=0.45, 95% CI -0.15 to 3.9), but this was not statistically significant; no difference was observed for University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale 20 items scores. Most participants (7/8, 88%) stated that they became friends with a peer in class; 50% (4/8) reported that they played with other people. Participants reported high levels of enjoyment and satisfaction with how the program was implemented. Qualitative analysis resulted in 4 qualitative themes that explained behavioral mechanisms that determined engagement in the program.ConclusionsThe study findings demonstrated that a brief VR group program could be valuable for potentially improving mental health among adolescents with physical disabilities. Participants built friendships with peers and other players on the web, using low-cost consumer equipment that provided easy access and strong scale-up potential. Study findings identified factors that can be addressed to enhance the program within a larger clinical trial.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT05259462; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05259462.International registered report identifier (irrid)RR2-10.2196/42651.

Project description:Spatial navigation is influenced by landmarks, which are prominent visual features in the environment. Although previous research has focused on finding advantages of landmarks on wayfinding via experimentation; however, less attention has been given to identifying the key attributes of landmarks that facilitate wayfinding, including the study of neural correlates (involving electroencephalogram, EEG analyses). In this paper, we combine behavioral measures, virtual environment, and EEG signal-processing to provide a holistic investigation about the influence of landmarks on performance during navigation in a maze-like environment. In an experiment, participants were randomly divided into two conditions, Landmark-enriched (LM+; N = 17) and Landmark-devoid (LM-; N = 18), and asked to navigate from an initial location to a goal location in a maze. In the LM+ condition, there were landmarks placed at certain locations, which participants could use for wayfinding in the maze. However, in the LM- condition, such landmarks were not present. Beyond behavioral analyses of data, analyses were carried out of the EEG data collected using a 64-channel device. Results revealed that participants took less time and committed fewer errors in navigating the maze in the LM+ condition compared to the LM- condition. EEG analyses of the data revealed that the left-hemispheric activation was more prominent in the LM+ condition compared to the LM- condition. The event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) of the theta frequency band, revealed activation in the left posterior inferior and superior regions in the LM+ condition compared to the LM- condition, suggesting an occurrence of an object-location binding in the LM+ condition along with spatial transformation between representations. Moreover, directed transfer function method, which measures information flow between two regions, showed a higher number of active channels in the LM- condition compared to the LM+ condition, exhibiting additional wiring cost associated with the cognitive demands when no landmark was available. These findings reveal pivotal role of the left-hemispheric region (especially, parietal cortex), which indicates the integration of available sensory cues and current memory requirements to encode contextual information of landmarks. Overall, this research helps to understand the role of brain regions and processes that are utilized when people use landmarks in navigating maze-like environments.

Dataset Information

Group Telegaming Through Immersive Virtual Reality to Improve Mental Health Among Adolescents With Physical Disabilities: Pre- and Posttrial Protocol.

Background

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Trial registration

International registered report identifier (irrid)

Publications

Group Telegaming Through Immersive Virtual Reality to Improve Mental Health Among Adolescents With Physical Disabilities: Pre- and Posttrial Protocol.

Similar Datasets

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