ArticleFrontiers in psychology2025
Virtual reality gaming: a tool for reducing fear and anxiety in university students.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Video and App-Based Games for Youth Emotion Regulation: Scoping Review.JMIR mental health · 2026Article
- Exploring the Effects of Serious Games (Immersive Virtual Reality Versus Web-Based Platforms) on Interprofessional Education Among Undergraduate Health Care Students: Randomized Controlled Trial and Multimethod Study.JMIR serious games · 2026Article
- Digital and virtual reality-based rehabilitation versus conventional therapy for rotator cuff tears and post-repair recovery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.JSES reviews, reports, and techniques · 2026Review
- Effects of virtual nature scenes and imagery dialogue intervention on academic anxiety in college students.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- From virtual attachments to real-world fertility desires: emotional pathways in game character attachment and parasocial relationships.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of outdoor experiential training on the mental health of college students, specifically focusing on anxiety and fear, through the use of virtual reality (VR) technology. Methods: A total of 104 undergraduate participants (20 males and 35 females in both experimental and control groups) were recruited from our university. Participants, aged 18 to 23, were randomly assigned to an experimental group ( Results: Statistical analyses using SPSS 25.0 revealed significant reductions in anxiety and fear symptoms among participants in the experimental group compared to the control group. Specifically, anxiety scores decreased from an average rank of 5.36 to 4.59, and fear scores from 4.60 to 3.78 across the intervention phases. The total SCL-90 scores showed a significant improvement, decreasing from 6.39 to 5.41 ( Conclusion: The findings strongly indicate that VR technology is effective in alleviating anxiety and fear among college students, suggesting its potential as a viable intervention tool for mental health improvement in educational settings. The immersive nature of VR provides a safe and controlled environment for students to confront and manage their fears, which can be particularly beneficial for those who are reluctant to seek face-to-face counseling.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.