Immersive Intergroup Contact: Using Virtual Reality to Enhance Empathy and Reduce Stigma Towards Schizophrenia

Tools

Yin, Jiaqi; Liu, Shihan; Lee, Shao-Wen; Kitsios, Andreas; Gillies, Marco; Birtel, Michèle Denise; Farmer, Harry and Pan, Xueni. 2025. Immersive Intergroup Contact: Using Virtual Reality to Enhance Empathy and Reduce Stigma Towards Schizophrenia. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), ISSN 1077-2626 [Article] (In Press)

Preview

Text
2025_Jiaqi.pdf - Accepted Version
Download (8MB) | Preview

Official URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?pu...

Abstract or Description

Stigma towards individuals with schizophrenia reduces quality of life, creating a barrier to accessing education and employment opportunities. Schizophrenia is one of the most stigmatized mental health conditions, and stigma is prevalent particularly among healthcare professionals. In this study, we investigated whether Virtual Reality (VR) can be incorporated into interventions to reduce stigma. In particular, we compared the effectiveness of three VR conditions based on intergroup contact theory in reducing stigma in form of implicit and explicit attitudes, and behavioral intentions. Through an immersive virtual consultation in a clinical setting, participants (N=60) experienced one of three different conditions: the Doctor's perspective (embodiment in a majority group member during contact), the Patient's perspective (embodiment in a minority group member) and a Third-person perspective (vicarious contact). Results demonstrated an increase of stigma on certain explicit measures (perceived recovery and social restriction) but also an increase of empathy (perspective-taking, empathic concern) across all conditions regardless of perspective. More importantly, participants‘ viewpoint influenced the desire for social distance differently depending on the perspective: the Third-person observation significantly increased the desire for social distance, Doctor embodiment marginally decreased it, while Patient embodiment showed no significant change. No change was found in the Implicit Association Test. These findings suggest that VR intergroup contact can effectively reduce certain dimensions of stigma toward schizophrenia, but the type of perspective experienced significantly impacts outcomes.

Item Type:

Article

Additional Information:

“© 2025 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.”

Keywords:

Virtual Reality, Schizophrenia, Attitude Change, Empathy, Stigmatization

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Computing

Dates: