Trial reportJMIR mental health2025
Impact of a Virtual Reality Intervention on Stigma, Empathy, and Attitudes Toward Patients With Psychotic Disorders Among Mental Health Care Professionals: Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in JMIR mental health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05982548 (The Use of a Virtual Reality Intervention on Stigma, Empathy and Attitudes Towards People With Psychotic Disorders Among Mental Healthcare Professionals), which is not on this map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Use of a Virtual Reality Intervention on Stigma, Empathy and Attitudes Towards People With Psychotic Disorders Among Mental Healthcare Professionals
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Schizophrenia spectrum stigma in healthcare: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Educational interventions to reduce mental health stigma toward patients among healthcare professionals and trainees: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Review
- Therapeutic modulation of empathy: pharmacological, neurostimulation, and behavioral approaches.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Neurobiological illness models of schizophrenia and stigma reduction: has that ship sailed?Schizophrenia (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2025Review
- Virtual reality for experiential learning: enhancing agitation management skills, confidence, and empathy in healthcare students.Medical education online · 2025Article
- Predicting Empathy and Other Mental States During VR Sessions Using Sensor Data and Machine Learning.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPrevious studies have found that psychotic disorders are among the most stigmatized mental disorders. Of note, virtual reality (VR) interventions have been associated with improvements in attitudes and empathy and reduced stigma toward individuals with psychotic disorders, especially among undergraduates, but this has not been examined among mental health care professionals.
objectiveWe aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a newly developed VR intervention for mental health care professionals to improve attitudes and empathy and reduce stigma toward people with psychotic disorders.
methodsWe conducted a randomized controlled trial and recruited eligible mental health care professionals from a tertiary mental health care institution. Both arms (VR intervention and VR control groups) were evaluated at baseline, postintervention, and 1-month follow up. The evaluation included outcomes related to attitudes (modified attitudes toward people with schizophrenia scale), stigma (social distance scale, personal stigma scale), and empathy (empathetic concern subscale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index). The experience with the VR intervention was assessed using a user satisfaction questionnaire, and qualitative feedback was gathered.
resultsOverall, 180 mental health care professionals participated and completed the study. Both groups showed improvements in attitude, social distance, and stigma scores but not the empathy score following the intervention. The VR intervention group had better user satisfaction than the VR control group. In addition, certain outcome measures were positively associated with specific factors including female gender, higher education level, certain job roles, years of work, and presence of loved ones with a mental disorder.
conclusionsBoth the intervention and control VR groups of mental health care professionals showed improvements in attitudes, stigma, and social distance toward people with psychotic disorders. Future longitudinal studies may want to evaluate the impact of VR on caregivers and the public on these same and other outcome measures to reduce stigma and improve empathy toward individuals with psychotic disorders.
trial registrationclinicaltrials.gov NCT05982548; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05982548.
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