Virtual Reality for Vocational Recovery

Enhancing Vocational Support With a Virtual Reality Vocational Skills Building Application: Piloting VR4VR

Unemployment is higher among young people who experience mental ill-health compared to the general population. This can have a lasting impact on young people, many of whom are highly motivated to gain employment and education. There are many challenges to seeking, gaining, and maintaining employment for young people. To address these challenges and help young people meet their employment and education goals, investigators have developed a VR intervention to support vocational skill building. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and safety, of the Virtual Reality for Vocational Recovery (VR4VR) intervention. A small group of vocational specialists will support up to 20 young people with their vocational outcomes using VR4VR over a 3-6week period. Both young people and specialists will complete questionnaires related to acceptability of the intervention, including qualitative interviews. Data on feasibility and safety will also be collected. Results will inform whether VR is feasible, acceptable, and safe to support vocational outcomes within vocational services that support young people with mental health difficulties, potentially supporting further intervention development and larger trials.

A young person participant will be considered eligible for inclusion in this study if:

1. They are aged 18-25 seeking vocational support at participating vocational support programs
2. Have a named care-coordinator or key worker
3. Comfortable using a VR headset
4. Consent to recording of interview for transcription

Exclusion Criteria:

1. They lack fluency in English (spoken and written), since this is required to understand participate in the VR intervention;
2. They have a known diagnosis of a moderate intellectual disability, due to some of the content delivered during the intervention requiring a certain level of understanding.
3. As the therapy uses audio and visual means of communication, participants with impairments so severe that they cannot hear instructions, or are unable to see the virtual reality environments, cannot participate. Mild impairments can be accommodated, as sound volume can be turned up, and the Meta Quest headband is used to comfortably use glasses with the headset.

A vocational specialist or staff participant will be considered eligible for inclusion in this study if:

1. Presently work within a vocational program and hold a caseload of young people
2. Have worked with at least 5 young people within a vocational intervention.
3. Sufficient command of the English language
4. Consent to audio recording of interview

No exclusion criteria

A staff participant will be considered eligible for inclusion in this study if:

1. Presently work within a role supporting a vocational program
2. Sufficient command of the English language
3. Consent to audio recording of interview

No exclusion criteria