University of Florida, USA.
University of Florida, USA.
J Adolesc. 2019 Feb;71:72-83. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.12.006. Epub 2019 Jan 10.
Bullying is a widely prevalent public health and safety issue that can have serious long-term consequences for youth. Given the limited efficacy of traditional bullying prevention programs, a need exists for novel, theoretically informed, prevention programming. Construal Level Theory provides a useful framework.
This study evaluated a pseudo-randomized pilot trial of a virtual reality enhanced bullying prevention program among middle school students (N = 118) in the Midwest United States. Two models were proposed. The first predicts reductions in bullying behavior (traditional bullying, cyberbullying, relational aggression) at post-test, mediated by changes in empathy in the virtual reality condition compared to the control condition. The second predicts increases in school belonging and willingness to intervene as an active bystander at post-test, mediated by changes in empathy in the virtual reality condition compared to the control condition.
The virtual reality condition yielded increased empathy from pre-to post-intervention compared to the control condition. Through the mediating role of empathy, changes in the desirable directions were also observed for traditional bullying, sense of school belonging, and willingness to intervene as an active bystander, but not for cyberbullying or relational aggression.
The scope and practical limitations of the virtual reality trial prevented a larger scale and more rigorous evaluation; however, results justify an expanded examination of virtual reality as a youth violence prevention tool.
欺凌是一个普遍存在的公共卫生和安全问题，可能会对青少年造成严重的长期后果。鉴于传统的欺凌预防计划效果有限，因此需要一种新颖的、有理论依据的预防计划。构建层次理论提供了一个有用的框架。
本研究评估了在美国中西部地区对中学生（N=118）进行虚拟现实增强型欺凌预防计划的伪随机试点试验。提出了两种模型。第一个模型预测在虚拟现实条件下与对照组相比，同理心的变化将导致欺凌行为（传统欺凌、网络欺凌、关系攻击）在测试后减少。第二个模型预测在虚拟现实条件下与对照组相比，同理心的变化将导致学校归属感和作为积极旁观者进行干预的意愿在测试后增加。
虚拟现实条件下的同理心从干预前到干预后均高于对照组。通过同理心的中介作用，在传统欺凌、学校归属感和作为积极旁观者进行干预的意愿方面也观察到了朝着理想方向的变化，但在网络欺凌或关系攻击方面则没有。
虚拟现实试验的范围和实际限制阻碍了更大规模和更严格的评估；然而，结果证明虚拟现实作为青少年暴力预防工具值得进一步研究。
