Preliminary efficacy of a positive psychological intervention using virtual reality in older Korean immigrants: randomized controlled trial.

Background

Our study examines the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a culturally tailored and virtual reality-based positive psychological intervention (PPI) to ameliorate discrimination-related stress and adverse mental health and improve psychological well-being among older Korean immigrants with discrimination-related experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

This 3-week 2-arm RCT recruited older Korean immigrants (≥60), assigning them to either the intervention (N = 15) or a wait-list control arm (N = 16). The intervention group received four modules of PPI to recognize, amplify, and practice positive events. We conducted descriptive statistics to assess the feasibility and multivariate linear regression models to assess the preliminary efficacy.

Results

The participants had a mean age of 80.9, 67.7% were female, and they had lived in the U.S. for 39.6 years. Adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, the intervention group showed greater reductions in discrimination-related stress (b = -4.02, p < 0.05) and perceived stress (b = -5.49, p < 0.05), as well as improvements in life engagement (b = 6.18, p < 0.01), compared to the control group.

Discussion

The results underscore the significance of advanced technologies with culturally tailored features to address mental health disparities and highlight the benefits of PPI.