The "mediated sense of presence" is a technology-induced illusion of being present in one (simulated) place when one is actually present in another (physical) place. Typically experienced in virtual worlds, mediated presence is generated by different technological, cognitive, and emotional factors. The aim of this study was to test how to optimise the virtual experience by manipulating some of these factors. Specifically, we tested if an immersive technology and/or a meaningful narrative context influence the users' sense of presence, providing a more compelling experience than a non-immersive and non-contextualized virtual space. Eighty-four students, randomly divided into four groups, were asked to find a blood container inside a virtual hospital in an immersive or non-immersive condition and with or without an emotionally related narrative. Two presence questionnaires and heart-rate variations were used to measure the effects of the four conditions on the users' sense of presence. Results showed a significant effect of narrative, F(8, 73) = 30.346, p < 0.001, and level of immersion, F (8, 73) = 10.913, p < 0.001, and a significant interaction between narrative and immersion, F(8, 73) = 2.062, p = 0.05, both on the presence questionnaires and on the heart-rate variations. Moreover, considering the factors immersion (I) and narrative (N) together, we found that the I-N condition generated the highest level of presence. We argue that both immersion and narrative are important in creating an effective virtual reality experience because they contribute differently to increasing the sense of presence. Immersion increases the place illusion, while the narrative contributes to generating an emotional response and strengthening the subjects' sense of inner presence.

A multicentre cross-sectional study was conducted to assess perceived risk and fear of contagion, as well as mental health outcomes among 650 Italian healthcare workers during the COVID-19 outbreak. A relevant proportion of the sample reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, and distress. Female sex, nursing profession, fear of being infected, as well as the time of exposure to the COVID-19 spread and the fact of directly attending infected patients were the main risk factors for developing mental health disturbances. Tailored interventions need to be implemented to reduce psychological burden in healthcare workers, with a particular attention to nurses.

BackgroundMany researchers and clinicians have proposed using virtual reality (VR) in adjunct to in vivo exposure therapy to provide an innovative form of exposure to patients suffering from different psychological disorders. The rationale behind the 'virtual approach' is that real and virtual exposures elicit a comparable emotional reaction in subjects, even if, to date, there are no experimental data that directly compare these two conditions. To test whether virtual stimuli are as effective as real stimuli, and more effective than photographs in the anxiety induction process, we tested the emotional reactions to real food (RF), virtual reality (VR) food and photographs (PH) of food in two samples of patients affected, respectively, by anorexia (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) compared to a group of healthy subjects. The two main hypotheses were the following: (a) the virtual exposure elicits emotional responses comparable to those produced by the real exposure; (b) the sense of presence induced by the VR immersion makes the virtual experience more ecological, and consequently more effective than static pictures in producing emotional responses in humans.MethodsIn total, 10 AN, 10 BN and 10 healthy control subjects (CTR) were randomly exposed to three experimental conditions: RF, PH, and VR while their psychological (Stait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) and visual analogue scale for anxiety (VAS-A)) and physiological (heart rate, respiration rate, and skin conductance) responses were recorded.ResultsRF and VR induced a comparable emotional reaction in patients higher than the one elicited by the PH condition. We also found a significant effect in the subjects' degree of presence experienced in the VR condition about their level of perceived anxiety (STAI-S and VAS-A): the higher the sense of presence, the stronger the level of anxiety.ConclusionsEven though preliminary, the present data show that VR is more effective than PH in eliciting emotional responses similar to those expected in real life situations. More generally, the present study suggests the potential of VR in a variety of experimental, training and clinical contexts, being its range of possibilities extremely wide and customizable. In particular, in a psychological perspective based on a cognitive behavioral approach, the use of VR enables the provision of specific contexts to help patients to cope with their diseases thanks to an easily controlled stimulation.