Psychological outcomes and intention to use following an 8-week virtual reality tennis training programme: a randomised controlled trial with exploratory mediation analysis
Abstract
Background: Virtual reality (VR) provides an immersive format for sports training, but psychological responses associated with continued use of the technology remain incompletely understood. This study compared changes in self-efficacy, flow experience, embodied cognition, and intention to use following VR versus traditional tennis training and explored indirect associations through the three psychological variables.
Methods: In a parallel-group randomised controlled trial (NCT07356427), 180 Physical Education and Sports Science students with at least two semesters of tennis training experience were assigned to VR training (n = 90) or traditional training (n = 90). The intervention comprised 16 sessions over 8 weeks using PICO 4 headsets. Primary analyses used complete cases with pre- and post-intervention data (n = 153). Group × Time interactions were assessed using mixed ANOVA, and exploratory parallel multiple mediation was examined using PROCESS Model 4 with 5,000 bootstrap resamples and adjustment for baseline values.
Results: Group × Time interactions were statistically significant for all four outcomes (p ≤ .006). Compared with traditional training, VR training was associated with greater pre-to-post changes in self-efficacy (g = 0.93, 95% CI [0.59, 1.26]), embodied cognition (g = 0.67, 95% CI [0.35, 1.00]), intention to use (g = 0.61, 95% CI [0.29, 0.94]), and flow experience (g = 0.45, 95% CI [0.13, 0.77]). Indirect associations through self-efficacy (indirect…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 153 participants or records.
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