NCT03912597

VR-assisted Curriculum on Depression for Stigma Reduction

Reducing Stigma Against Depression: Designing and Implementing a VR-assisted Curriculum to Reduce Students' Perceptions of Patients With Depression

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 200 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Yale-NUS College · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 26 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Two randomised controlled trials will be conducted to evaluate a virtual reality (VR) simulation designed to reduce stigma against depression. Qualitative interviews will also be carried out to evaluate the VR simulation.

Detailed description

The investigators examine the impact of a VR-assisted curriculum on stigma reduction towards individuals with depression. This is done through the development and evaluation of a VR-assisted curriculum that promotes stigma reduction towards depression among tertiary-aged students. Collection of data will provide insights about the effectiveness of VR's immersive quality in enhancing stigma reduction skills through measures of attitudes, beliefs and knowledge about depression. In the first study, VR is compared with traditional pamphlets in an information sharing booth about depression. In the second study, participants attend a 30-min session where they undergo an educational curriculum with either a VR or standard video as adjunctive tools.

Conditions

• Control
• Behavior

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Virtual Reality	The 4-minute virtual reality video depicts a day in a life of a student with depression. The one-take video, filmed with a 360° camera, is designed to provide users with an immersive experience that simulates what it feels like to have depression. The user interface consisted of a Google Cardboard VR headset attached to a smartphone.
DEVICE	Brochure	Participants read an informational brochure about depression depicting standard information about depression, including symptoms and information on how to support someone with depression.
DEVICE	Standard Video Control	The 4-minute standard video depicts a similar storyline as was shown in the VR video. The standard video is filmed from a third-party perspective with multiple takes edited into a final video, following the standard filming style of these videos. The standard video will be viewed from a laptop with headphones attached.

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-09-19
• Primary completion: 2019-04-20
• Completion: 2019-04-20
• First posted: 2019-04-11
• Last updated: 2019-04-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Singapore