Virtual Reality to Combat Weight-Based Implicit Bias: BWH Pilot Study
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: 360 Video on a Virtual Reality Headset, 360-Control Video.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Implicit Bias, Implicit Association Test. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- United States
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Official title
The Use of Virtual Reality to Combat Weight-Based Implicit Bias Among Physicians in Training at Brigham and Women's Hospital: A Pilot Study
Overview
The goal of this pilot implementation study is to evaluate the impact of a virtual reality (VR) intervention on implicit bias for resident physicians. The main question it aims to answer are: Does watching VR experience of two clinical encounters reduce implicit bias association test scores? Is the VR experience an acceptable intervention tool for reducing implicit bias? Researchers will compare weight-based VR experiences consisting of two observed clinical encounters to a neutral education VR encounter to see if our intervention significantly impacts implicit bias association scores. Participants will be asked 1. Complete Implicit Association test for weight-based bias pre-intervention and post-intervention (immediately, at one week, and one month after the intervention) to assess their implicit bias 2. Watch either experimental clinical encounter videos or neutral education video using a VR headset 3. Participants will also complete an abbreviated IAT related to views on compliance
Interventions
- Behavioral 360 Video on a Virtual Reality Headset
Two 360- videos watched via a VR headset where the study subject will witness a positive physician encounter with a compliant obese patient and a negative encounter with a non-compliant non-obese patient - Behavioral 360-Control Video
A neutral education video from the New England Journal of Medicine watched in a 360-theatre setting via a VR headset
Primary outcome measures
- Implicit Association Test [Time frame: From enrollment to one-month post-intervention]
Secondary outcome measures (1)
- Resident Impression of Virtual Reality Implicit Bias Project [Time frame: One-month post-VR]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Resident physicians associated with Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Resident physicians providing informed consent to participate
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
Study locations
United States · 1 center
- Brigham and Women's Hospital — Boston
Publications
- Marini M, Waterman PD, Breedlove E, Chen JT, Testa C, Reisner SL, Pardee DJ, Mayer KH, Krieger N. The target/perpetrator brief-implicit association test (B-IAT): an implicit instrument for efficiently measuring discrimination based on race/ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, weight, and age. BMC Public Health. 2021 Jan 19;21(1):158. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-10171-7. PMID 33468085
- Gonzalez-Liencres C, Zapata LE, Iruretagoyena G, Seinfeld S, Perez-Mendez L, Arroyo-Palacios J, Borland D, Slater M, Sanchez-Vives MV. Being the Victim of Intimate Partner Violence in Virtual Reality: First- Versus Third-Person Perspective. Front Psychol. 2020 May 8;11:820. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00820. eCollection 2020. PMID 32457681
- Banakou D, Slater M. Body ownership causes illusory self-attribution of speaking and influences subsequent real speaking. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Dec 9;111(49):17678-83. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1414936111. Epub 2014 Nov 24. PMID 25422444
- Salmanowitz N. The impact of virtual reality on implicit racial bias and mock legal decisions. J Law Biosci. 2018 Apr 19;5(1):174-203. doi: 10.1093/jlb/lsy005. eCollection 2018 May. PMID 29707220
- Banakou D, Kishore S, Slater M. Virtually Being Einstein Results in an Improvement in Cognitive Task Performance and a Decrease in Age Bias. Front Psychol. 2018 Jun 11;9:917. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00917. eCollection 2018. PMID 29942270
- Peck TC, Seinfeld S, Aglioti SM, Slater M. Putting yourself in the skin of a black avatar reduces implicit racial bias. Conscious Cogn. 2013 Sep;22(3):779-87. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2013.04.016. Epub 2013 May 28. PMID 23727712
- Bertrand P, Guegan J, Robieux L, McCall CA, Zenasni F. Learning Empathy Through Virtual Reality: Multiple Strategies for Training Empathy-Related Abilities Using Body Ownership Illusions in Embodied Virtual Reality. Front Robot AI. 2018 Mar 22;5:26. doi: 10.3389/frobt.2018.00026. eCollection 2018. PMID 33500913
- Marini M, Rubichi S, Sartori G. The role of self-involvement in shifting IAT effects. Exp Psychol. 2012;59(6):348-54. doi: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000163. PMID 22750742
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07283523 · 2022P001287