Virtual Reality for Vocational Recovery

N/ANot Yet RecruitingNCT07114887

Orygen20 enrolled

Overview

Unemployment is higher among young people who experience mental ill-health compared to the general population. This can have a lasting impact on young people, many of whom are highly motivated to gain employment and education. There are many challenges to seeking, gaining, and maintaining employment for young people. To address these challenges and help young people meet their employment and education goals, investigators have developed a VR intervention to support vocational skill building. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and safety, of the Virtual Reality for Vocational Recovery (VR4VR) intervention. A small group of vocational specialists will support up to 20 young people with their vocational outcomes using VR4VR over a 3-6week period. Both young people and specialists will complete questionnaires related to acceptability of the intervention, including qualitative interviews. Data on feasibility and safety will also be collected. Results will inform whether VR is feasible, acceptable, and safe to support vocational outcomes within vocational services that support young people with mental health difficulties, potentially supporting further intervention development and larger trials.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Mental Health Disorder

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 25 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

A young person participant will be considered eligible for inclusion in this study if: 1. They are aged 18-25 seeking vocational support at participating vocational support programs 2. Have a named care-coordinator or key worker 3. Comfortable using a VR headset 4. Consent to recording of interview for transcription Exclusion Criteria: 1. They lack fluency in English (spoken and written), since this is required to understand participate in the VR intervention; 2. They have a known diagnosis of a moderate intellectual disability, due to some of the content delivered during the intervention requiring a certain level of understanding. 3. As the therapy uses audio and visual means of communication, participants with impairments so severe that they cannot hear instructions, or are unable to see the virtual reality environments, cannot participate. Mild impairments can be accommodated, as sound volume can be turned up, and the Meta Quest headband is used to comfortably use glasses with the headset. A vocational specialist or staff participant will be considered eligible for inclusion in this study if: 1. Presently work within a vocational program and hold a caseload of young people 2. Have worked with at least 5 young people within a vocational intervention. 3. Sufficient command of the English language 4. Consent to audio recording of interview No exclusion criteria A staff participant will be considered eligible for inclusion in this study if: 1. Presently work within a role supporting a vocational program 2. Sufficient command of the English language 3. Consent to audio recording of interview No exclusion criteria

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Feasibility - recruitment rates

Rates of recruitment for the study (young people and vocational and service staff) based on an audit of study enrolment

Time frame: 6 months post intervention commencement

Acceptability

Acceptability as measured by the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability Measure delivered to young people and vocational specialists. Total mean score across the 7 TFA items will be reported, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating greater acceptability.

Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

Safety - adverse events

The number of serious adverse events specifically related to the intervention or trial

Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

Feasibility - consent rates

Rates of consent for the study (young people and vocational and service staff) based on an audit of consent logs

Time frame: 6 months post intervention commencement

Secondary Outcomes

Feasibility - attendance rates of assessments and sessions

Via audit of attendance logs

Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

Feasibility - delivery of VR4VR

Proportion of trained vocational specialists who use the intervention during the trial period

Time frame: 6 months post intervention commencement

Feasibility - VR utilisation

Proportion of sessions within the intervention period in which VR was used within intervention sessions.

Time frame: 6 months post intervention commencement

Acceptability - cybersickness

Cybersickness as measured by the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire. 16 items across three domains, nausea, Oculomotor and disorientation are summed to produce a total score. Items are scored on a scale from 0 to 3, with a higher score indicating greater cybersickness symptoms.

Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

Acceptability - VR presence

Sense of 'being there' within the VR environment measured using the Igroup Presence Questionnaire. Total score is calculated by summing all items. Items are rated on a scale of -3 to 3, with a higher scoring indicating greater sense of presence.

Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

Effectiveness - Social and occupational functioning

Young person functioning measured by the single item social and occupational functioning scale, ranging from 0 to 100, with lower scores indicating poorer functioning.

Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

Effectiveness - Occupational self-efficacy

Young person self-efficacy around employment measured by occupational self-efficacy scale. Items rated on a scale tanging from 1 to 6, with higher vales reflecting higher occupational self-efficacy.

Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

Effectiveness - General self-efficacy

Young person self-efficacy using the general self-efficacy scale, to assess an individual's perceived generalised capabilities to respond to a variety of challenges and situations. Scores range from 1-4 with highest scores indicating higher self-efficacy. The total score is calculated by finding the sum of the all items.

Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

Feasibility - intervention implementation

Feasibility of Implementation Measure (completed by service leads and clinicians)

Time frame: up to 6 months post intervention commencement

Vocational specialist confidence and competence

Purpose-built scale (no title or acronym) developed specifically for the current study capturing self-report vocational specialist confidence and competence using VR for vocational support. The scale is 8 items, scored of a scale of 1 to 4. Higher score indicates a greater degree of competence with VR4VR.

Time frame: Immediately post-training

Implementation - perceived barriers and enablers to use in practice

Assessed through qualitative analysis of supervision meeting minutes with vocational specialists

Time frame: Through study completion an average of 6 months

Implementation - perceived barriers and enablers to use in practice

Assessed through qualitative analysis of research meeting minutes

Time frame: Through study completion an average of 6 months

Implementation - perceived barriers and enablers to use in practice

Assessed through qualitative analysis of post-intervention interviews focusing on participants' experiences of using the VR4VR intervention during vocational support.

Time frame: Through study completion an average of 6 months

Feasibility - fidelity

Proportion of VR4VR sessions that are delivered per-protocol, assessed by the timing of sessions.

Time frame: 6 months post intervention commencement

Virtual Reality for Vocational Recovery

Overview

Conditions

Interventions

Eligibility

Locations (3)

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes

Central Contacts