Impact of Virtual Reality Safe Spaces and Blank Screens on Anxiety and Wellbeing”

Abstract

Abstract Many individuals across the world suffer from anxiety, which is one of the most common mental disorders. Various aspects of life including study, work, and quality of life are adversely affected by anxiety. There is conflicting evidence regarding the effectiveness of exposure-based therapy as exposure to an anxiety-triggering stimulus is difficult for some people. In addition, there is a lack of accurate measures within previous research examining virtual reality (VR)-therapy effectiveness. This inspired the researcher of this study to address the limitations of prior studies by examining VR-therapy’s efficacy in treating anxiety while using measures with high quality. The aim of the current study was to determine whether anxiety can be decreased and the positive impact enhanced through the use of VR-based treatments. Methods: Ninety participants were recruited. These participants did not suffer from anxiety. The between-subjects were subjected to virtual reality exposure: VR Safe Space; VR Blank Screen; No VR. The anxiety score was measured using the Current Anxiety Level Measure. The Negative and Positive Affect Scale was used to measure the affect. The third dependent variable was heart rate and a smartwatch was used to measure this. The fourth dependent variable was the experience itself and was measured using a Likert scale. The results showed that virtual reality spaces and VR blank screens did not reduce anxiety or reduce negative affect in the three groups. However, virtual reality increased positive affect in the higher education students, whereas there was no difference in positive affect in the other two groups.