Effects of VR Presence on Health Risk Perceptions

  • Authors

    • Min-Ji Choe
    • Ghee-Young Noh
    https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i3.24.22666
  • VR video, Presence, Health risk perception, R-MANOVA, Interaction effect

  • Background/Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effects of presence in VR video on changes in health risk perceptions – health self-efficacy, perceived susceptibility, and perceived severity – about infectious disease prevention behavior.

    Methods/Statistical analysis: The experiment was conducted to observe whether participants perceived health behavior differently after watching VR video about washing hands. Participants were consisted of 75 males and 75 females and they were asked to fill out the pre-questionnaire about health perceptions before watching VR video and post-questionnaire after watching the video. The collected data were analyzed by R-MONOVA to examine the interaction effect of gender and the VR video presence.

    Findings: The results showed that the VR video presence had significant impacts on changes in health risk perceptions not only at multivariate level but also at univariate level. The results of this study imply that the effect of presence in VR video can influence the changes of health perceptions and eventually it can make individuals behave in healthy way. In addition, gender influenced the changes of health risk perceptions only at multivariate level but it did not cause any change at univariate level. Most of all, the interaction effect of gender and the presence of VR video only appeared at univariate level. Especially, perceived severity was affected by the interaction effect. Since perceived severity was changed depending on not gender but the effect of presence when analyzing separately, it implies that experience in VR can be different according to gender group. This study proved that the vividness effect of VR video was persuasive in changing health risk perceptions and it can be used in health industry to promote healthy behavior.

    Improvements/Applications: This study was improved in suggesting the effect of presence on changes of health perceptions according to gender. Thus, differences in presence depending on gender should be taken into consideration.

     

     

  • References

    1. [1] Steuer J. Defining virtual reality: Dimensions determining telepresence. Journal of Communication. 1992 Dec;42(4):73-93.

      [2] Witmer BG, Singer MJ. Measuring presence in virtual environments: A presence questionnaire. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments. 1998 Jun;7(3):225-40.

      [3] Lombard M, Ditton T. At the heart of it all: The concept of presence. Journal of Computerâ€Mediated Communication. 1997 Sep;3(2):0-0.

      [4] Taylor SE, Thompson SC. Stalking the elusive “vividness†effect. Psychological Review. 1982 Mar;89(2):155-81.

      [5] MacKenzie SB. The role of attention in mediating the effect of advertising on attribute importance. Journal of Consumer Research. 1986 Sep;13(2):174-95.

      [6] Tamborini R. The experience of telepresence in violent video games. Seattle: National Communication Association; 2000.

      [7] Riva G, Mantovani F, Waterworth EL, Waterworth JA. Immersed in Media. New York: Springer International Publishing; 2015. P.73-99.

      [8] Bower GH. Imagery as a relational organizer in associative learning. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior. 1970 Apr;9(5):529-533.

      [9] Rook KS. Encouraging preventive behavior for distant and proximal health threats: Effects of vivid versus abstract information. Journal of Gerontology. 1986 Jul;41(4):526-534.

      [10] Lee SY, Hwang H, Hawkins R, Pingree S. Interplay of negative emotion and health self-efficacy on the use of health information and its outcomes. Communication Research. 2008 Jun;35(3):358-81.

      [11] Bandura A. Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review. 1977 Mar;84(2): 191-215.

      [12] Wood R, Bandura A. Social cognitive theory of organizational management. Academy of Management Review. 1989 Jul;14(3):361-84.

      [13] Maibach E, Flora JA, Nass C. Changes in self-efficacy and health behavior in response to a minimal contact community health campaign. Health Communication [Internet]. 2009 Dec [cited 2018 May 4];3(1):1-15. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327027hc0301_1

      [14] Block LG, Keller PA. Effects of self-efficacy and vividness on the persuasiveness of health communications. Journal of Consumer Psychology [Internet]. 2008 Jan [cited 2018 Apr 26];6(1):31-54. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327663jcp0601_02

      [15] Rook KS. Effects of case history versus abstract information on health attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 1987 Jun;17(6):533-53.

      [16] Becker MH, Rosenstock IM. Health care and human behavior. London: Academic Press; 1984. p.135-52.

      [17] Robinson JK, Rigel DS, Amonette RA. Trends in sun exposure knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors: 1986 to 1996. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 1997 Aug;37(2): 179-86.

      [18] Meyerowitz BE, Chaiken S. The effect of message framing on breast self-examination attitudes, intentions, and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1987 Mar;52(3):500-10.

      [19] Champion VL. Instrument development for health belief model constructs. Advances in Nursing Science. 1984 Apr;6(3):73-85.

  • Downloads

  • How to Cite

    Choe, M.-J., & Noh, G.-Y. (2018). Effects of VR Presence on Health Risk Perceptions. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(3.24), 288-291. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i3.24.22666