Touloudi Evlalia, Hassandra Mary, Galanis Evangelos, Goudas Marios, Theodorakis Yannis
School of Physical Education, Sport Science and Dietetics, Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Thessaly, 42100 Trikala, Greece.
Sports (Basel). 2022 Jun 29;10(7):104. doi: 10.3390/sports10070104.
Virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation of a real or imaginary three-dimensional environment that has entered our lives, particularly for gaming. Lately, it has been permeating into many aspects of our everyday life, such as exercise. It is important to ascertain whether exercise in an immersive virtual reality environment can be accepted from employees and lead to positive outcomes for them. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine the acceptance, future adoption, interest/enjoyment and usability of an immersive virtual reality system for exercise training by office workers during breaks within their working hours. A total of 40 female employees participated in the study with a mean age of 42.58 years (SD 10.77). Participants were requested to complete two sequential 15-min dual task cycling sessions corresponding to two experimental conditions. The first, condition A, involved cycling in a virtual environment, wearing a virtual reality head mounted display, and responding to cognitive tasks by answering multiple choice questions-on a screen, using a joystick. The second, condition B, involved cycling on a static bicycle and simultaneously responding to cognitive tasks by answering multiple choice questions in a real environment. After completion of the two conditions, participants responded to a series of scales regarding each of the experimental conditions and to a semi-structured interview. The results showed that participants noted a significant preference for the immersive virtual reality exercise, condition A, compared to condition B (bike only); and their acceptance, interest/enjoyment, usability and intention for future use were high. The qualitative data showed increased intention for future use, feelings of control and presence and most of the participants did not encounter any difficulties or require extra help to understand the immersive virtual reality system. Overall, exercising during working hours with an immersive virtual reality exercise system was well perceived by office workers and applicable. However, the effects of the immersive virtual reality training system on physical and mental health and the employees' adherence to the exercise program should be tested with a longer intervention program.
虚拟现实是一种计算机生成的对真实或虚构三维环境的模拟，它已经进入了我们的生活，特别是在游戏领域。最近，它正渗透到我们日常生活的许多方面，比如锻炼。确定在沉浸式虚拟现实环境中进行锻炼是否能被员工接受并给他们带来积极成果很重要。这项探索性研究的目的是考察上班族在工作时间休息时使用沉浸式虚拟现实系统进行锻炼训练的接受度、未来采用意愿、兴趣/享受程度和可用性。共有40名女性员工参与了该研究，平均年龄为42.58岁（标准差10.77）。参与者被要求完成两个连续的15分钟双重任务骑行环节，对应两种实验条件。第一种，条件A，是戴着虚拟现实头戴式显示器在虚拟环境中骑行，并通过使用操纵杆在屏幕上回答多项选择题来应对认知任务。第二种，条件B，是在静态自行车上骑行，同时在真实环境中通过回答多项选择题来应对认知任务。在完成这两种条件后，参与者对关于每种实验条件的一系列量表以及一次半结构化访谈做出了回应。结果显示，与条件B（仅自行车）相比，参与者明显更倾向于沉浸式虚拟现实锻炼，即条件A；并且他们对其接受度、兴趣/享受程度、可用性和未来使用意愿都很高。定性数据显示未来使用意愿增强、有控制感和身临其境的感觉，并且大多数参与者在理解沉浸式虚拟现实系统时没有遇到任何困难或需要额外帮助。总体而言，上班族对在工作时间使用沉浸式虚拟现实锻炼系统进行锻炼的接受度较高且该系统适用。然而，沉浸式虚拟现实训练系统对身心健康的影响以及员工对锻炼计划的坚持情况应该通过更长时间的干预计划来测试。
