The health promoting potential of nature experiences in virtual reality
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN14275608 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN14275608 |
| Secondary identifying numbers | Cristin-Project-ID: 624906 |
- Submission date
- 11/08/2020
- Registration date
- 28/08/2020
- Last edited
- 06/09/2022
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Other
Plain English summary of protocol
Background and study aims.
Green exercise (any physical activity in the presence of nature) is proposed as a key cost-effective nature-based solution to promote health and well-being. However, green exercise is often subjected to a number of barriers, such as weather conditions and accessibility to quality natural environments. Virtual Reality (VR), a computer-generated virtual environment, can in this context provide a valuable supplement to integrate nature exposure and green exercise.
The specific purposes of this project are:
1. To establish how to best develop a high-quality GreenVR;
2. To study how healthy adults perceive and respond to different GreenVRs, in order to establish which type of GreenVR provides the best mental health outcomes;
3. To evaluate the risk of our GreenVR to induce cyber-sickness, identifying factors that can cause and prevent it.
4. To evaluate the potential of GreenVR technology as a strategy to promote more participation in real green exercise.
Who can participate?
Healthy adults with normal or corrected to normal vision and limited experience with virtual reality (less than monthly use).
What does the study involve?
Participants will be required to meet at the sport-physiology laboratory at INN University and watch a short video clip validated to induce feelings of sadness. The participant will then be randomly assigned to either walk on a treadmill while watching a virtual walk in nature or walk on a treadmill without the virtual experience. Two virtual scenarios will be tested, both showing the exact same environment, but developed using different techniques: one will be developed using commercial 360' video-camera, while the other will be developed using video-games technology. To avoid 'placebo effects', the participants won't be told what condition they will undergo. Questionnaires and measures of heart rate and blood pressure will be administered before, during, and after the treadmill walk.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
All participants will receive a gift certificate of 100 NKR. Some may experience improved mood and increased motivation to exercise outdoors. On the other hand, some may experience minor negative side effects associated with cyber-sickness, such as dizziness and general discomfort.
Where is the study run from?
INN University, Elverum, Norway.
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
April 2020 to December 2020
Who is funding the study?
Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences and RFF Innlandet
Who is the main contact?
Prof Giovanna Calogiuri, giovanna.calogiuri@inn.no)
Contact information
Scientific
Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN University)
Postboks 400
Elverum
2418
Norway
 ORCID ID |
0000-0003-1289-1026 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +47 62430245 |
| giovanna.calogiuri@inn.no |
Scientific
Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN University)
Postboks 400
Elverum
2418
Norway
| ORCID ID |
0000-0001-8322-2837 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +47 62 43 02 18 |
| sigbjorn.litleskare@inn.no |
Study information
| Study design | Single-blinded randomized controlled trial with parallel groups and repeated measurements |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Interventional |
| Secondary study design | Randomised controlled trial |
| Study setting(s) | Other |
| Study type | Other |
| Participant information sheet | Not available in web format, please use contact details to request a participant information sheet |
| Scientific title | GreenVR - Developing and validating health-promoting VR systems |
| Study acronym | GreenVR 2020 |
| Study objectives | H1 – virtual green exercise will be characterized by lower effort relative to exercise intensity compared to regular indoor exercise, with no difference between a 360˚ video and a 3D-model H2 – virtual green exercise will be perceived as a more positive experience compared to regular indoor exercise, with no difference between a 360˚ video and a 3D-model H3 – virtual green exercise will have a more positive impact on measures of psychophysiological health compared to regular indoor exercise, with a superior effect for 3D-model compared to 360˚ video for affective responses H4: Virtual green exercise will lead to increased ratings of connectedness with nature and future green exercise intention, with no difference between a 360˚ video and a 3D-model H5: The increased ratings of future green exercise intention will be associated with the participants’ changes in connectedness with nature, affective responses (enjoyment and changes in positive affect, tranquillity, negative affect, and fatigue) and perceived environmental restorativeness (fascination, being away, extent, and compatibility) |
| Ethics approval(s) | Approved 13/08/2020, Regional committee for medical and health-related research (REK) (Gullhaugveien 1-3, 0484 Oslo, Norway; +47 22 84 55 11; rek-sorost@medisin.uio.no), ref:134663 |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | Wellbeing |
| Intervention | Treatment conditions: The participants will undergo a 10-minutes self-paced walk on a manually driven treadmill whilst being exposed to either a 360˚ video or a 3D-model representing a natural environment. The exposure to the treatments and control conditions will be preceded by a preliminary elicitation of sadness using a short-film. 1. Treatment 1: Treadmill walk, in combination with exposure to a 3D model IVE 2. Treatment 2: Treadmill walk, in combination with exposure to a 360' video IVE 3. Control: Treadmill walk only with no exposure to any IVE IVE= Immersive Virtual Environments Measurements will be taken at three time-points: 1. Baseline, i.e. right before starting the experimentation 2. After watching the short-video (pre-exposure) 3. After exposure to the treatments or control conditions |
| Intervention type | Device |
| Pharmaceutical study type(s) | |
| Phase | Not Specified |
| Drug / device / biological / vaccine name(s) | Immersive Virtual Environments |
| Primary outcome measure | Affect (Physical activity affect scale, PAAS) measured at pre-exposure and post-exposure |
| Secondary outcome measures | 1. LTEQ: Leisure time exercise questionnaire measured at baseline 2. GE-INT: Future green exercise intention measured at baseline and post-exposure 3. N-connect: Connectedness with nature scale measured at baseline and post-exposure 4. PAAS: Physical activity affect scale measured at baseline, pre-exposure and post-exposure 5. Blood pressure (BP, measured using a semi-automatic sphygmomanometer) for 5 min at baseline, pre-exposure and post-exposure 6. Enjoyment (Single-item scale) measured at post-exposure 7. Perceived exertion (Ratings of perceived exertion, RPE) measured at post-exposure 8. Cyber sickness (Simulator-sickness questionnaire) measured at post-exposure 9. Presence (Presence see scale) measured at post-exposure 10. Perceived environmental restorativeness (Perceived restorativeness scale, PRS) measured at post-exposure 11. Walking speed (measured by the treadmill) for a 10 min period during exposure 12. Heart rate (continuous monitoring during walking) for a 10 min period during exposure |
| Overall study start date | 01/04/2020 |
| Completion date | 04/12/2020 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Healthy volunteer |
|---|---|
| Age group | Adult |
| Lower age limit | 18 Years |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 60 participants |
| Total final enrolment | 60 |
| Key inclusion criteria | 1. Age >18 years old 2. Normal or corrected to normal vision 3. Limited experience with VR (less than monthly use) 4. No previous diagnosis of balance impairments |
| Key exclusion criteria | Limited understanding of Norwegian language |
| Date of first enrolment | 01/09/2020 |
| Date of final enrolment | 30/12/2020 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Norway
Study participating centre
2418 Elverum
Norway
Elverum
2418
Norway
Sponsor information
University/education
Faculty of Social and Health Sciences
INN University
Postboks 400
2418 Elverum
Norway
Elverum
2418
Norway
| Phone | +47 62 43 00 00 |
|---|---|
| postmottak@inn.no | |
| Website | https://eng.inn.no |
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/02dx4dc92 |
Funders
Funder type
Government
No information available
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 30/06/2022 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | Yes |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Available on request |
| Publication and dissemination plan | Current publication and dissemination plan asof 17/12/2021: The plan is to publish two articles. One for H1-H3 (study 1) and one for H4 with focus on Connectedness with Natute (study 2). A third study with focus on Future green exercise intention (H4) will be written as a "multi-study" article along with data from previous studies. Findings relative to H5 will not be published in journal articles, but presented at conferences and internal meetings and used as an explorative foundation for future studies. Preliminary results will be presented at various research conferences, at national and international level. Previous publication and dissemination plan: The plan is to publish two articles. One for H1-H3 (study 1) and one for H4-H5 (study 2). Study 2 will be written as a "multi-study" article along with data from previous studies. Preliminary results will be presented at various research conferences, at national and international level. |
| IPD sharing plan | The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not expected to be made available due to consent not being given. Sample-level data (e.g. means and standard deviations) will be made available upon request from Giovanna Calogiuri (giovanna.calogiuri@usn.no) or Sigbjørn Litleskare (sigbjorn.litleskare@inn.no) |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic results | 26/01/2022 | 26/01/2022 | No | No | |
| Results article | 06/07/2022 | 06/09/2022 | Yes | No | |
| Results article | 05/04/2022 | 06/09/2022 | Yes | No |
Additional files
Editorial Notes
06/09/2022: Publication references added.
26/01/2022: The basic results of this trial have been uploaded as an additional file.
17/12/2021: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. The publication and dissemination plan was updated.
2. The intention to publish date was changed from 30/12/2021 to 30/06/2022.
16/06/2021: The intention to publish date has been changed from 30/06/2021 to 30/12/2021.
11/12/2020: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. The overall end date was changed from 30/12/2020 to 04/12/2020.
2. The total final enrolment was added.
19/08/2020: Trial’s existence confirmed by Regional committee for medical and health-related research
