Could virtual reality have a role in school alcohol education?

A research report has been published in the journal “PLOS One” titled “User experience, game satisfaction and engagement with the virtual simulation VR FestLab for alcohol prevention: A quantitative analysis among Danish adolescents.” There is increasing interest in the use of virtual reality (VR) in school drug education, but questions remain as to whether these approaches go beyond novelty and create genuine behaviour change. This research report didn’t look specifically at behaviour change outcomes, but instead looked at whether young people found the VR alcohol program to be engaging, and whether they would recommend the program to others. The authors found that while the majority of students enjoyed the VR experience, most were either unsure or disagreed with the statement “The game is engaging.” Only 28% of students would recommend the VR approach, indicating that we have a long way to go to understand how to implement these approaches, but also to ensure that they result in genuine behaviour change.

Go to “User experience, game satisfaction and engagement with the virtual simulation VR FestLab for alcohol prevention: A quantitative analysis among Danish adolescents.”