TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2024//
TI  - Teaching children pedestrian safety in virtual reality via smartphone: a noninferiority randomized clinical trial
JO  - Journal of pediatric psychology
A1  - Schwebel, David C.
A1  - Johnston, Anna
A1  - McDaniel, Dominique
A1  - Severson, Joan
A1  - He, Yefei
A1  - McClure, Leslie A.
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether child pedestrian safety training in a smartphone-based virtual reality (VR) environment is not inferior to training in a large, semi-immersive VR environment with demonstrated effectiveness. <br><br>METHODS: Five hundred 7- and 8-year-old children participated; 479 were randomized to one of two conditions: Learning to cross streets in a smartphone-based VR or learning in a semi-immersive kiosk VR. The systems used identical virtual environments and scenarios. At baseline, children's pedestrian skills were assessed in both VR systems and through a vehicle approach estimation task (judging speed/distance of oncoming traffic on monitor). Training in both conditions comprised at least six 30-min sessions in the randomly assigned VR platform and continued for up to 25 visits until adult-level proficiency was obtained. Following training and again 6 months later, children completed pedestrian safety assessments identical to baseline. Three outcomes were considered from assessments in each VR platform: Unsafe crossings (collisions plus close calls), time to contact (shortest time between child and oncoming simulated traffic), and missed opportunities (unselected safe opportunities to cross). <br><br>RESULTS: Participants achieved adult-level street-crossing skill through VR training. Training in a smartphone-based VR system was generally not inferior to training in a large semi-immersive VR system. There were no adverse effects. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Seven- and 8-year-old children can learn pedestrian safety through VR-based training, including training in a smartphone-based VR system. Combined with recent meta-analytic results, the present findings support broad implementation and dissemination of child pedestrian safety training through VR, including smartphone-based VR systems.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0146-8693
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsae020
ID  - ref1
ER  -