The effect of virtual reality therapy and counseling on students' public speaking anxiety
Abstract Background and Aims One of the barriers to effective communication between speaker and listeners is public speaking anxiety (PSA). Over recent years, PSA has become common among students as the most widespread social anxiety (SA). Virtual reality (VR) and counseling therapy help reduce PSA....
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Health Science Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.816 |
| _version_ | 1797772364545523712 |
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| author | Fatemeh Sarpourian Taha Samad‐Soltani Khadijeh Moulaei Kambiz Bahaadinbeigy |
| author_facet | Fatemeh Sarpourian Taha Samad‐Soltani Khadijeh Moulaei Kambiz Bahaadinbeigy |
| author_sort | Fatemeh Sarpourian |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background and Aims One of the barriers to effective communication between speaker and listeners is public speaking anxiety (PSA). Over recent years, PSA has become common among students as the most widespread social anxiety (SA). Virtual reality (VR) and counseling therapy help reduce PSA. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of VR therapy and counseling on students' PSA and SA. Methods This quasi‐experimental study was conducted on 30 students at three levels of undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD at Kerman University of Medical Sciences and Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (15 students in the intervention group and 15 in the control group). The intervention group observed four virtual classroom scenarios in a 30‐min session, and the control group attended a 90‐min group counseling session. Data were collected using by Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, and Igroup Presence Questionnaire. The data analysis was done using SPSS version 21. Descriptive analysis (frequency and percentage, mean, standard deviation, and quartiles) and analytical tests (paired t‐test and independent t‐test) were used to analyze the data. Results The results showed that VR and counseling did not affect SA scores and statistical differences before and after the intervention were not statistically significant. However, VR and counseling reduced PSA. The mean of IPQ/IGP (physical presence) was 63.73. The participants' SA means (93.76) were higher than the mean PSA (73.4). Conclusions VR and counseling did not affect students' SA, but they reduced PSA. If the intervention duration in future studies are longer, the effect of VR and counseling on reducing SA is likely to become more apparent. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T21:49:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-102b6233196f4a2aa44be74a20711609 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2398-8835 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T21:49:49Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Health Science Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-102b6233196f4a2aa44be74a207116092023-07-26T04:11:54ZengWileyHealth Science Reports2398-88352022-09-0155n/an/a10.1002/hsr2.816The effect of virtual reality therapy and counseling on students' public speaking anxietyFatemeh Sarpourian0Taha Samad‐Soltani1Khadijeh Moulaei2Kambiz Bahaadinbeigy3Medical Informatics Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health Kerman University of Medical Sciences Kerman IranDepartment of Health Information Management, School of Management and Medical Informatics Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz IranMedical Informatics Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health Kerman University of Medical Sciences Kerman IranMedical Informatics Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health Kerman University of Medical Sciences Kerman IranAbstract Background and Aims One of the barriers to effective communication between speaker and listeners is public speaking anxiety (PSA). Over recent years, PSA has become common among students as the most widespread social anxiety (SA). Virtual reality (VR) and counseling therapy help reduce PSA. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of VR therapy and counseling on students' PSA and SA. Methods This quasi‐experimental study was conducted on 30 students at three levels of undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD at Kerman University of Medical Sciences and Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (15 students in the intervention group and 15 in the control group). The intervention group observed four virtual classroom scenarios in a 30‐min session, and the control group attended a 90‐min group counseling session. Data were collected using by Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, and Igroup Presence Questionnaire. The data analysis was done using SPSS version 21. Descriptive analysis (frequency and percentage, mean, standard deviation, and quartiles) and analytical tests (paired t‐test and independent t‐test) were used to analyze the data. Results The results showed that VR and counseling did not affect SA scores and statistical differences before and after the intervention were not statistically significant. However, VR and counseling reduced PSA. The mean of IPQ/IGP (physical presence) was 63.73. The participants' SA means (93.76) were higher than the mean PSA (73.4). Conclusions VR and counseling did not affect students' SA, but they reduced PSA. If the intervention duration in future studies are longer, the effect of VR and counseling on reducing SA is likely to become more apparent.https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.816counselingpublic speaking anxietysocial phobiastudentsvirtual reality |
| spellingShingle | Fatemeh Sarpourian Taha Samad‐Soltani Khadijeh Moulaei Kambiz Bahaadinbeigy The effect of virtual reality therapy and counseling on students' public speaking anxiety Health Science Reports counseling public speaking anxiety social phobia students virtual reality |
| title | The effect of virtual reality therapy and counseling on students' public speaking anxiety |
| title_full | The effect of virtual reality therapy and counseling on students' public speaking anxiety |
| title_fullStr | The effect of virtual reality therapy and counseling on students' public speaking anxiety |
| title_full_unstemmed | The effect of virtual reality therapy and counseling on students' public speaking anxiety |
| title_short | The effect of virtual reality therapy and counseling on students' public speaking anxiety |
| title_sort | effect of virtual reality therapy and counseling on students public speaking anxiety |
| topic | counseling public speaking anxiety social phobia students virtual reality |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.816 |
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