Virtual reality for anxiety and mental stress reduction in university students

The European Commission’s Education & Training program emphasizes inclusive higher education, ensuring all students succeed. Special focus is needed for those with mental health issues. Chronic st...

The key project objective was to improve the well-being of students suffering from acute, episodic, and chronic stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms by boosting mental health and social inclusion, enhancing their chances to function normally in university society, and preventing the recurrence of the disorder. The main output of this project is a set of chill spots deployed at partner universities. The main part of the chill spot is a VR system equipped with stress and anxiety reduction applications. Scenarios developed for students use visualization, guided breathing exercises, and bilateral stimulation. VR technology allows users to stay in a chillout environment affecting their senses of hearing and sight. There are two types of scenarios: static and dynamic. The static scenarios guide users through breathing, visualization, and relaxation techniques with a narrator. The dynamic scenarios allow users to actively relieve stress. The VR tool aims to put users in a state of mental calm, helping them achieve a sense of peace and tranquility, and promoting overall mental well-being.

The project required a multidisciplinary methodology integrating experts in psychology and modern technology. Planned activities included methodological approaches and technical implementation, evaluated by participants throughout the project. Meetings of involved staff provided opportunities to discuss, verify, and drive the work towards the objectives. Transnational project meetings allowed partners to examine progress and verify the project’s course. Key aspects ensuring good consolidation included: - Partners’ meetings arranged by each partner, fostering ownership and responsibility. - Facilitated communication and close relations between project partners. Iterative work on materials was enabled through A1 and A2, ensuring application evaluation. The CalmCampus seminar (E1) was an excellent promotion of mental health among students, teachers, and stakeholders, as well as a dissemination of the project’s results.

The VR application (R1) was implemented as chill spots for students to use as a relaxation training program during emergencies. These spots were designed to eliminate outside noise and isolate the user. The VR application created an immersive multisensory environment with scenarios for stress and anxiety reduction, and anger relief and relaxation. Additionally, we developed software for inducing emotions, which was subsequently tested on 40 students, resulting in a unique database of emotional EEG signals (R2). This database was utilized for teaching data analysis at TUL and UT within machine learning courses and will continue to be used in the future. Furthermore, it was used in the competition at IEEE FG2024. The database and its utilization were described in R4, while the creation of chill spots was detailed in R3. Both outputs are rich with practical advice and best practices, making them valuable resources for others. These outputs can be freely accessed and utilized by stakeholders and interested parties to implement similar initiatives or enhance their existing projects.