Promoting Sports Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic via Virtual Reality Games.
Hana Hanifah, Yuko Ito, Daryl Patrick Gamboa Yao and 2 others
PMID 35140553WHAT IT FOUND
Young adults playing a commercial VR sports game reported higher engagement, but most health scores did not change clearly; only vitality rose.
This small pilot with university students is not proof.
Key findings
01Sports engagement increased after each session compared with baseline.
02Only vitality showed a statistically significant increase among health scores.
03After play, engagement was positively associated with some health measures, but absorption was not.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was a one-group pilot with no control group, so any change could be due to novelty or expectation rather than the VR game. Only 20 participants completed the study, and all were university students aged 19 to 29 with no pre-existing health condition, so the findings may not apply to older adults or people with health conditions. The intervention lasted three sessions over up to one week, which is too short to establish lasting health effects. The authors note that high starting health scores and the short duration may explain why most health outcomes did not change. Play could stop early for cybersickness, and the study did not compare the accuracy of VR movement with real sports movement.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that VR sports improve health in young adults. This was a small pilot with no control group, and only vitality showed a clear change among the health scores.