College Students’ and Campus Counselors’ Attitudes Toward Adopting Virtual Reality Therapy for Counseling Services and Preliminary Design Considerations
This study explores factors that impact the attitudes towards virtual reality teletherapy (VRT) adoption on college campuses. Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with 3 students and 2 counselors. Sessions also consisted of exploring a group therapy room via surrogate-aloud method. Participants generally responded openly to the idea of having VR as an option for campus counseling services. Three primary themes (physical, social, and clinical factors), 8 secondary sub-themes, and 9 tertiary sub- themes were identified in influencing participants’ attitudes of counseling modalities and their attitudes toward adopting VR for remote counseling services. These insights suggest that VRT may be more openly adopted for improved access to services and for specific clinical use cases where students can translate learned skills to the real world. Main concerns of VRT include using VR for antithetical behavior and establishing trust with others. Preliminary design considerations for VRT counseling services are discussed from the perspectives learned.