Acceptability, Feasibility, and Initial Efficacy for Exercise in Commercially Available Virtual Reality to Enhance Psychological and Physical Well-being

TY - CONF

T1 - Acceptability, Feasibility, and Initial Efficacy for Exercise in Commercially Available Virtual Reality to Enhance Psychological and Physical Well-being

AU - Runswick, Oliver

AU - Rowland, Harry

AU - Smith, Megan

AU - Valmaggia, Lucia

AU - Bruce, Richard

PY - 2024/7/18

Y1 - 2024/7/18

N2 - Objectives: Exercise is a powerful tool for disease prevention and rehabilitation. Commercially available virtual reality (VR) offers an immersive platform to make enjoyable and interactive exercise available in the home. This has potential to enhance engagement with exercise and increase the physiological and psychological benefits. Previous research has demonstrated the favorable outcomes of employing virtual reality (VR) compared to conventional exercise for short-term exercise sessions conducted in controlled laboratory environments (Barbour et al., 2024). However, there exists a scarcity of studies exploring the acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of VR applications for enhancing both physical and psychological well-being across extended training durations within real-world settings. Methods: 20 healthy participants (male=10, female=10), completed an eight week, four session per week, VR exercise programme involving boxing, high intensity interval training, and dance, using the VR exercise app FitXR™ in a Meta Quest 2. Each participant completed four weeks of autonomous training at home and four weeks of organized training on campus in a crossover design. Adherence was measured throughout, and psychological and physical measures were taken before, at the mid-point, and post training. Measures included self-reported physical activity measures, VO2 max tests for cardiovascular fitness, and scales for exercise self-efficacy, depression, anxiety, and stress. Results: Participants recorded higher completion rates in organised sessions (79%) compared to at home (51%). Across the eight weeks, participants displayed significant increases in leisure time activity and VO2 max (p<0.05) and these improvements were coupled with significant decreases in anxiety (p<0.05). Conclusion: Exercising using a commercially available VR fitness apps may offer an alternative gateway into exercise that is feasible and acceptable for use in the home or in organised exercise settings. VR exercise shows initial benefits for health, but future research should compare these technologies to matched groups engaging in other forms of exercise.

AB - Objectives: Exercise is a powerful tool for disease prevention and rehabilitation. Commercially available virtual reality (VR) offers an immersive platform to make enjoyable and interactive exercise available in the home. This has potential to enhance engagement with exercise and increase the physiological and psychological benefits. Previous research has demonstrated the favorable outcomes of employing virtual reality (VR) compared to conventional exercise for short-term exercise sessions conducted in controlled laboratory environments (Barbour et al., 2024). However, there exists a scarcity of studies exploring the acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of VR applications for enhancing both physical and psychological well-being across extended training durations within real-world settings. Methods: 20 healthy participants (male=10, female=10), completed an eight week, four session per week, VR exercise programme involving boxing, high intensity interval training, and dance, using the VR exercise app FitXR™ in a Meta Quest 2. Each participant completed four weeks of autonomous training at home and four weeks of organized training on campus in a crossover design. Adherence was measured throughout, and psychological and physical measures were taken before, at the mid-point, and post training. Measures included self-reported physical activity measures, VO2 max tests for cardiovascular fitness, and scales for exercise self-efficacy, depression, anxiety, and stress. Results: Participants recorded higher completion rates in organised sessions (79%) compared to at home (51%). Across the eight weeks, participants displayed significant increases in leisure time activity and VO2 max (p<0.05) and these improvements were coupled with significant decreases in anxiety (p<0.05). Conclusion: Exercising using a commercially available VR fitness apps may offer an alternative gateway into exercise that is feasible and acceptable for use in the home or in organised exercise settings. VR exercise shows initial benefits for health, but future research should compare these technologies to matched groups engaging in other forms of exercise.

UR - https://fepsac2024.eu/program.php

M3 - Abstract

SP - 601

T2 - FEPSAC 17th Congress

Y2 - 15 July 2024

ER -