Adolescents' perceptions and user experiences with a virtual reality-based alcohol prevention tool in Germany: A focus group study

Robert Hrynyschyn; Christina Prediger; Patricia Lyk; Gunver Majgaard; Stefanie Maria Helmer; Christiane Stock

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1054015

Adolescents' perceptions and user experiences with a virtual reality-based alcohol prevention tool in Germany: A focus group study

Front Public Health. 2023 Mar 10:11:1054015. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1054015. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Robert Hrynyschyn^{1

2}, Christina Prediger¹, Patricia Lyk³, Gunver Majgaard³, Stefanie Maria Helmer^{2

4}, Christiane Stock^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Health and Nursing Science, Berlin, Germany.
² Leibniz Science Campus Digital Public Health, Bremen, Germany.
³ University of Southern Denmark, Game Development and Learning Technology, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, Odense, Denmark.
⁴ University of Bremen, Human and Health Sciences, Bremen, Germany.
⁵ University of Southern Denmark, Unit for Health Promotion Research, Esbjerg, Denmark.

Abstract

Background: Excessive alcohol consumption is a major public health problem, with substance use early in life contributing to higher levels of use later in life. Virtual reality (VR) is an innovative technology for alcohol prevention among adolescents that could solve the problem of insufficient outreach to the target group of young people. The co-created German Virtual LimitLab simulation is one of the few examples of VR-based alcohol prevention tools and consists of a virtual house party simulation. The aims of Virtual LimitLab are to increase the users' awareness of how social pressure can influence their own decision-making as well as to enable various actions and communication strategies in order to train competencies when dealing with alcohol. The present study thus aims to explore adolescents' content- and technique-specific perceptions of Virtual LimitLab in order to gain insights into user experiences and to test the prototype with the German target group.

Methods: Four semi-structured focus groups with adolescents aged 15-18 years (n = 13) were conducted and analyzed using thematic analyses. A user experience questionnaire (UEQ-S) was applied in order to quantitatively assess adolescents' satisfaction with Virtual LimitLab.

Results: Three main themes were identified (VR experience, content, and technical aspects). Participants positively assessed both the content and the technical aspects of Virtual LimitLab. This trend was also seen by the UEQ-S data, which yielded positive ratings for both pragmatic and hedonic quality. The broad variety of options in the simulation that allow the user to try new behaviors was perceived particularly positively. In general, Virtual LimitLab was regarded as an innovative tool that encourages adolescents to think critically about their personal alcohol consumption. Technical errors in the simulation and users' difficulties in identifying with the simulation were the main points of criticism.

Conclusions: Feedback from adolescent users revealed positive and therefore promising results when using Virtual LimitLab as a gaming alcohol-prevention tool. Some technical aspects still need to be improved in order to further refine the prototype, and suggestions for expanding the content of the application have already been made.

Keywords: adolescents; alcohol prevention; focus group; qualitative research; user experience; virtual reality.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Alcoholism* / prevention & control
Computer Simulation
Focus Groups
Germany
Humans
Virtual Reality*

Grants and funding

The research project was funded by Stiftung Charité (file number WIS_PRO_619). The study sponsor and funders had no role in the study design, data collection, data management, data analysis, data interpretation, or report writing or in the decision to submit the report for publication.