Using Virtual Reality to Train Children in Pedestrian Safety
试验速览
- 阶段
- 3 期
- 状态
- 已完成
- 入组人数
- 240
- 试验地点
- 2
- 主要终点
- Street-crossing Ability
研究概览
简要总结
Pedestrian injuries are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in American children ages 7-8, but existing behavior-oriented interventions achieve only modest success. One limitation to existing interventions is that they fail to provide children with the repeated practice needed to develop the complex perceptual and cognitive skills required for safe pedestrian activity.
Virtual reality (VR) offers a highly promising technique to train children in pedestrian safety skills. VR permits repeated unsupervised practice without risk of injury; automated feedback to children on success or failure in crossings; adjustment of traffic density and speed to match children's skill level; and an appealing and fun environment for training. The proposed research is designed to test the efficacy of virtual reality as a tool to train child pedestrians in safe street-crossing behavior.
A randomized controlled trial will be conducted with four equal-sized groups of children ages 7-8 (total N = 240). One group will receive training in an interactive and immersive virtual pedestrian environment. The virtual environment, already developed, has been demonstrated to have face, construct, and convergent validity. The second group will receive pedestrian safety training via video and computer strategies that are most widely used in American schools today. The third group will receive what is judged to be the most efficacious treatment currently available, individualized behavioral training at streetside locations. The fourth and final group will serve as a no-contact control group. All participants in all groups will be exposed to a range of field- and laboratory-based measures of pedestrian skill during baseline and post-intervention visits, as well as during a six-month follow-up assessment. Primary analyses will be conducted through linear mixed models designed to test change over time in the four intervention groups. We hypothesize all children in active learning groups will increase pedestrian safety skills, but the largest increase will be among children in the virtual reality group.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Prevention
- 盲法
- None
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 7 Years 至 8 Years（Child）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 是
入选标准
- •7 and 8 year old children living in Birmingham, Alabama, area
排除标准
- •family plans to move within 6 months of recruitment
- •visual or perceptual impairment (e.g., blindness) that are uncorrected and would prevent valid participation in protocol
- •physical impairment (e.g., use of wheelchair) that would prevent valid participation in protocol
- •cognitive impairment (e.g., moderate mental retardation) that would prevent valid participation in protocol
结局指标
主要结局
Street-crossing Ability
时间窗: post-training and again 6 months later
average count of hits/close calls per participant in virtual environment, out of 30 crossings
次要结局
未报告次要终点
研究者
David Schwebel
Professor of Psychology and Associate Dean for Research in the Sciences
University of Alabama at Birmingham