SIAT researchers use virtual reality to help young adults cope with health challenges

Pathways to flourishing: leveraging Virtual Reality for cultivating compassion, resilience, social connectedness, and healthy habits in emerging adults facing chronic health challenges

Emerging adults, also known as transitional age youth (TAY; age 16–30), with chronic health con­di­tions face sig­nif­i­cant psy­choso­cial chal­lenges during a for­ma­tive devel­op­men­tal period, includ­ing coping with adver­sity, with anx­i­ety and depres­sion co-occurring in approx­i­mately half of this group. Many life events (e.g., major relo­ca­tions, edu­ca­tion or career tran­si­tions, med­ical diag­noses, care­giv­ing respon­si­bil­i­ties) create unique oppor­tu­ni­ties for growth, and also can cause adver­sity, espe­cially during emerg­ing adult­hood– a dynamic time with increased risks to mental health. Yet, this life phase presents a remark­able oppor­tu­nity to develop skills and habits that ripple through­out life towards enhanced well-being.

Interventions using con­tem­pla­tive and strengths-based adap­tive skills approaches to pos­i­tive func­tion­ing, such as devel­op­ing coping and resilience abil­i­ties, are par­tic­u­larly effec­tive for TAYs with chronic health con­di­tions. However, access­ing inter­ven­tions and sup­port­ive envi­ron­ments can be chal­leng­ing for these youths who require tai­lored tools that accom­mo­date their lived real­i­ties.

Unfortunately, many young indi­vid­u­als, par­tic­u­larly those with­out formal mental health diag­noses face a lack of acces­si­ble health and well-being ser­vices, often receiv­ing sup­port only in crisis sit­u­a­tions. Virtual reality inter­ven­tions (VRIs) demon­strate poten­tial for imbu­ing adap­tive skills such as coping, mind­ful­ness, and com­pas­sion towards well-being. Additionally, VR can pro­vide authen­tic social con­nec­tion at a time when sup­port­ive peer envi­ron­ments are vital and in-person inter­ac­tions are often unfeasible.

The aim of the researchers is to develop a proof-of-concept Virtual reality intervention (VRI) that trains adap­tive skills of coping, resilience, and com­pas­sion­ate abil­i­ties — and builds resilience towards adver­sity.

Tailored for TAYs with chronic health con­di­tions, the researchers will inte­grate their lived expe­ri­ence in a co-design research process. Leveraging the research team’s abil­ity to rapidly develop VR, they will amplify the VRI’s rel­e­vance using novel biosen­sors and AI within its inter­face. Through fea­si­bil­ity and accept­abil­ity test­ing and col­lab­o­ra­tor sup­port, we will explore how to extend reach and acces­si­bil­ity of the VRI to TAYs through dis­tri­b­u­tion points such as sup­ported at-home use, and inte­grated in rou­tine health services.

The out­comes of this work will pro­vide insight into the poten­tial of a VRI within early inter­ven­tion, and out­line design and imple­men­ta­tion con­sid­er­a­tions spe­cific to youth needs within a com­mu­nity con­text.