Using Virtual Reality to Train Children in Pedestrian Safety

Phase 3

Completed

Conditions: Pedestrian Safety
Street-crossing Ability

Interventions: Device: virtual pedestrian environment
Device: computer and video
Behavioral: streetside training

Registration Number: NCT00850759

Lead Sponsor: University of Alabama at Birmingham

Brief Summary: 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.

Detailed Description: Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 240

Inclusion Criteria

7 and 8 year old children living in Birmingham, Alabama, area

Exclusion Criteria

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

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
virtual reality	virtual pedestrian environment	street-crossing training in a virtual pedestrian environment
computer and video	computer and video	exposure to training in pedestrian safety via computer software, internet games, and television videos
streetside training	streetside training	one-on-one training in street-crossing skills by an adult, at a streetside location

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Street-crossing Ability	post-training and again 6 months later	average count of hits/close calls per participant in virtual environment, out of 30 crossings

Secondary Outcome Measures