• Matthew J Smith, Emily J Ginger, Michael Wright, Katherine Wright, Boteler Humm Laura L, Dale Olsen, Morris D Bell, and Michael F Fleming.
• *Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; †SIMmersion LLC, Columbia, MD; ‡Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, Department of Veterans Affairs, West Haven, CT; and §Department of Family Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL.
• J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 2014 Sep 1; 202 (9): 659-67.

AbstractServices are available to help support existing employment for individuals with psychiatric disabilities; however, there is a gap in services targeting job interview skills that can help obtain employment. We assessed the feasibility and efficacy of Virtual Reality Job Interview Training (VR-JIT) in a randomized controlled trial. Participants were randomized to VR-JIT (n = 25) or treatment-as-usual (TAU) (n = 12) groups. VR-JIT consisted of 10 hours of simulated job interviews with a virtual character and didactic online training. The participants attended 95% of laboratory-based training sessions and found VR-JIT easy to use and felt prepared for future interviews. The VR-JIT group improved their job interview role-play performance (p ≤ 0.05) and self-confidence (p ≤ 0.05) between baseline and follow-up as compared with the TAU group. VR-JIT performance scores increased over time (R = 0.65). VR-JIT demonstrated initial feasibility and efficacy at improving job interview skills and self-confidence. Future research may help clarify whether this intervention is efficacious in community-based settings.

24 keywords...

hide…