ArticleInternet interventions2021
What do users think about Virtual Reality relaxation applications? A mixed methods study of online user reviews using natural language processing.
Article in Internet interventions, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Physical Versus Virtual Reality-Based Calm Rooms for Psychiatric Inpatients: Quasi-Randomized Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- Assessing Patient Acceptance of Being Offered a Virtual Calm Room in Psychiatric Inpatient Care: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Designing a Smartphone-Based Virtual Reality App for Relaxation: Qualitative Crossover Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Using Large Language Models to Detect and Understand Drug Discontinuation Events in Web-Based Forums: Development and Validation Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Editorial: Digital tools for relaxation and stress management: use, effectiveness and implementation.Frontiers in digital health · 2024Article
- Article
- A Virtual Reality-Assisted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for and With Inuit in Québec: Protocol for a Proof-of-Concept Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- The sentiment of a virtual rock concert.Virtual reality · 2023Article
- A one-hundred-year structural topic modeling analysis of the knowledge structure of international management research.Quality & quantity · 2022Article
- A virtual reality-based mind-body approach to downregulate psychophysiological arousal in adolescent insomnia.Digital healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The advent of affordable Virtual Reality (VR) technology has spurred consumer and commercial interest in VR relaxation applications, which has quickly grown into a popular non-gaming genre on digital marketplaces. While laboratory studies have demonstrated efficacy of VR relaxation for mental health purposes, little is known about how users experience this type of intervention and no study has examined the reception of consumer versions among regular users in everyday life. Studying published user reviews offers a unique window into naturalistic user experiences that complements traditional qualitative methods by circumventing the sampling bias of interview studies, and allowing analyses on full samples, unconstrained by coding resources. Using an innovative, semi-automated Natural Language Processing technique, the current study analyzed 1379 published reviews (including star ratings) of 30 different VR relaxation applications available for the Oculus Go and Gear VR. The uncovered topic structure and sentiment analysis thereof suggests that users have an overall positive view of VR relaxation applications, describing them as successful in inducing immersion and relaxation, and having appreciated gamification elements. However, perceived quality varied substantially between applications that explained more variance in star ratings than specific features. Critical issues raised were both technical (e.g. "overheating") in nature and related to specific design elements and use. Implications for the design of consumer VR applications and future research are discussed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.