SBIR, Innovative Immersive Technologies for Evidence-Based Violence Prevention among College Students

ABSTRACT Innovative Immersive Technologies for Evidence-Based Violence Prevention among College Students This Phase II proposal will develop and test innovative virtual reality (VR) modules for an evidence-based primary prevention approach to violence among college age youth. The proposed VR modules will be designed to supplement an existing evidence-based violence prevention intervention approach developed as part of two previous federally funded research and development projects; one for incoming college students funded by a NIH/NIDA SBIR Fast-Track, and a second for incoming Air Force cadets funded by the U.S. Air Force. These violence prevention projects for college-age youth were adaptations of a successful evidence-based substance abuse and violence prevention approach initially designed for middle school youth called Life Skills Training (LST). The LST approach builds personal self-management skills, social skills, and other life skills needed to reduce substance abuse and violence, increase resilience, and successfully navigate developmental tasks. The LST program has been extensively tested and found to effectively prevent substance abuse, violence and aggression, and sexual violence in a series of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 18 separate cohorts of students from different populations and age groups, with behavioral effects reported in over 35 peer-reviewed publications. An adaptation of LST for college age students was recently tested in an RCT at the U.S. Air Force Academy and was found to reduced sexual acts without consent by nearly half (4.4% versus 7.4%) among first- year cadets, representing one of the first rigorous studies at a U.S. Service Academy to demonstrate reductions in sexual violence. To build upon this successful adaptation for college violence prevention, in Phase I, we developed prototype VR modules designed to provide learning experiences through interactive and engaging behavioral rehearsals and branched scenarios that allow for deeply immersive skills practice in conflict resolution and bystander intervention strategies and in identifying health and unhealthy relationships and interactions. We tested the prototype materials with 65 first year college students and university educators/administrators to demonstrate feasibility, relevance, usability, appeal, and proof-of-concept. All benchmarks for moving to Phase II were successfully surpassed. In Phase II, based on feedback from Phase I, we will fully develop a set of VR modules that will include dynamic scenarios to [practice cognitive, social, self-regulation, emotional perspective-taking, and healthy relationship skills to build resilience associated with reduced college violence as well as reduced alcohol/drug abuse; positively change social norms, and train bystanders to identify and appropriately respond to problematic situations.] The proposed product has the potential to fill a gap in the preventive intervention tools currently available to colleges, and can be widely disseminated throughout the country using existing marketing and dissemination channels to four-year colleges, community or junior colleges, universities, graduate and professional schools, trade, and career and technical schools.