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NCT Number: NCT07114887

Virtual Reality for Vocational Recovery

Unemployment is higher among young people who experience mental ill-health compared to the general population. This can have a lasting impact on young people, many of whom are highly motivated to gain employment and education. There are many challenges to seeking, gaining, and maintaining employment for young people. To address these challenges and help young people meet their employment and education goals, investigators have developed a VR intervention to support vocational skill building. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and safety, of the Virtual Reality for Vocational Recovery (VR4VR) intervention. A small group of vocational specialists will support up to 20 young people with their vocational outcomes using VR4VR over a 3-6week period. Both young people and specialists will complete questionnaires related to acceptability of the intervention, including qualitative interviews. Data on feasibility and safety will also be collected. Results will inform whether VR is feasible, acceptable, and safe to support vocational outcomes within vocational services that support young people with mental health difficulties, potentially supporting further intervention development and larger trials.

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Key information

Conditions

Mental Health Disorder Mental Disorders

Age range

18 year–25 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Veritas House, Orange, New South Wales, Australia

Loading trial locations.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

A young person participant will be considered eligible for inclusion in this study if:

  • They are aged 18-25 seeking vocational support at participating vocational support programs
  • Have a named care-coordinator or key worker
  • Comfortable using a VR headset
  • Consent to recording of interview for transcription

Exclusion criteria

  • They lack fluency in English (spoken and written), since this is required to understand participate in the VR intervention;
  • They have a known diagnosis of a moderate intellectual disability, due to some of the content delivered during the intervention requiring a certain level of understanding.
  • As the therapy uses audio and visual means of communication, participants with impairments so severe that they cannot hear instructions, or are unable to see the virtual reality environments, cannot participate. Mild impairments can be accommodated, as sound volume can be turned up, and the Meta Quest headband is used to comfortably use glasses with the headset.

A vocational specialist or staff participant will be considered eligible for inclusion in this study if:

  • Presently work within a vocational program and hold a caseload of young people
  • Have worked with at least 5 young people within a vocational intervention.
  • Sufficient command of the English language
  • Consent to audio recording of interview

No exclusion criteria

A staff participant will be considered eligible for inclusion in this study if:

  • Presently work within a role supporting a vocational program
  • Sufficient command of the English language
  • Consent to audio recording of interview

No exclusion criteria

Treatment and study plan

Virtual reality for vocational recovery

Behavioral

Intervention is an immersive virtual reality (VR) intervention, delivered through a VR headset, supported by a trained vocational specialist. Intervention content was co-designed with young people with mental health and vocational challenges, and vocational specialists with experiencing supporting this population. Content was guided by goals of vocational programs, including Individual Placement and Support.

Other names: VR4VR

Primary outcomes

  1. Feasibility - recruitment rates

    Time frame: 6 months post intervention commencement

    Rates of recruitment for the study (young people and vocational and service staff) based on an audit of study enrolment

  2. Acceptability

    Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

    Acceptability as measured by the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability Measure delivered to young people and vocational specialists. Total mean score across the 7 TFA items will be reported, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating greater acceptability.

  3. Safety - adverse events

    Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

    The number of serious adverse events specifically related to the intervention or trial

  4. Feasibility - consent rates

    Time frame: 6 months post intervention commencement

    Rates of consent for the study (young people and vocational and service staff) based on an audit of consent logs

Secondary outcomes

  1. Feasibility - attendance rates of assessments and sessions

    Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

    Via audit of attendance logs

  2. Feasibility - delivery of VR4VR

    Time frame: 6 months post intervention commencement

    Proportion of trained vocational specialists who use the intervention during the trial period

  3. Feasibility - VR utilisation

    Time frame: 6 months post intervention commencement

    Proportion of sessions within the intervention period in which VR was used within intervention sessions.

  4. Acceptability - cybersickness

    Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

    Cybersickness as measured by the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire. 16 items across three domains, nausea, Oculomotor and disorientation are summed to produce a total score. Items are scored on a scale from 0 to 3, with a higher score indicating greater cybersickness symptoms.

  5. Acceptability - VR presence

    Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

    Sense of 'being there' within the VR environment measured using the Igroup Presence Questionnaire. Total score is calculated by summing all items. Items are rated on a scale of -3 to 3, with a higher scoring indicating greater sense of presence.

  6. Effectiveness - Social and occupational functioning

    Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

    Young person functioning measured by the single item social and occupational functioning scale, ranging from 0 to 100, with lower scores indicating poorer functioning.

  7. Effectiveness - Occupational self-efficacy

    Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

    Young person self-efficacy around employment measured by occupational self-efficacy scale. Items rated on a scale tanging from 1 to 6, with higher vales reflecting higher occupational self-efficacy.

  8. Effectiveness - General self-efficacy

    Time frame: 6 weeks post intervention commencement

    Young person self-efficacy using the general self-efficacy scale, to assess an individual's perceived generalised capabilities to respond to a variety of challenges and situations. Scores range from 1-4 with highest scores indicating higher self-efficacy. The total score is calculated by finding the sum of the all items.

  9. Feasibility - intervention implementation

    Time frame: up to 6 months post intervention commencement

    Feasibility of Implementation Measure (completed by service leads and clinicians)

  10. Vocational specialist confidence and competence

    Time frame: Immediately post-training

    Purpose-built scale (no title or acronym) developed specifically for the current study capturing self-report vocational specialist confidence and competence using VR for vocational support. The scale is 8 items, scored of a scale of 1 to 4. Higher score indicates a greater degree of competence with VR4VR.

  11. Implementation - perceived barriers and enablers to use in practice

    Time frame: Through study completion an average of 6 months

    Assessed through qualitative analysis of supervision meeting minutes with vocational specialists

  12. Implementation - perceived barriers and enablers to use in practice

    Time frame: Through study completion an average of 6 months

    Assessed through qualitative analysis of research meeting minutes

  13. Implementation - perceived barriers and enablers to use in practice

    Time frame: Through study completion an average of 6 months

    Assessed through qualitative analysis of post-intervention interviews focusing on participants' experiences of using the VR4VR intervention during vocational support.

  14. Feasibility - fidelity

    Time frame: 6 months post intervention commencement

    Proportion of VR4VR sessions that are delivered per-protocol, assessed by the timing of sessions.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

James Whiting

CONTACT

[email protected]

+61399669173

Jennifer M Nicholas, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

+61399669235

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Orygen

Other

Collaborators

  • TAL Community Foundation
  • University of Melbourne

Registry information

Official study title

Enhancing Vocational Support With a Virtual Reality Vocational Skills Building Application: Piloting VR4VR

Acronym: VR4VR

Important dates

Study start
2025
Primary completion
2025
Study completion
2025
First posted
Aug 11, 2025
Registry last updated
Aug 11, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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