Effectiveness of VR on the Sustainability of Hand Hygiene Compliance: School-based RCT With 10-month Follow-up

Summary

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a VR intervention on teaching handwashing skills which are promoted by the Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health, HKSAR. A 7-step handwashing approach will be taught through a customized VR game in secondary schools in Hong Kong. Participant's handwashing skills and prolonged effects on handwashing habits and hygiene level will be assessed.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Does an intervention of our VR handwashing game enhance handwashing skills amongst junior secondary students?
* What are the factors hinder or enhance students' learning of handwashing skills in the intervention?

Participating students will be assigned into 3 groups. Each group will receive two sessions of educational training with different kinds of intervention throughout one school year (9 months). The first intervention group will participate in two VR-game sessions on handwashing skill; the second intervention group will participate in one VR-game session and one video session about handwashing; the baseline group will participate in two sessions of other VR activities unrelated to hand hygiene and view a handwashing skill poster. The research will compare the handwashing performance between the three groups.

Participants will:

* participate into a VR handwashing game intervention, or a video-based intervention, or placebo VR activities as stated hereinafter;
* perform handwashing in the VR game, and their hand-motion data will be captured;
* participate a UV lighting test after handwashing away fluorescent lotion; and,
* fill up questionnaires

Conditions

• Hand
• Hygiene Practices and Knowledge

Interventions

OTHER

VR Handwashing Game (2 sessions)

The intervention will be a VR game taught about the '7-Steps approach' of hand-washing promoted by Centre for Health Protection, HKSAR. The game is comprised of two parts: Training Mode and Challenge Mode. In Training Mode, students will be guided with text and voice feedback. A pair of 'ghost hands' will demonstrate what to do. Students follow the movements of the 'ghost hands' to complete the handwashing tasks. In the Challenge Mode, students are requested to perform all the steps at once by their own memory, hints will be given only when they encounter setback in an assigned duration. Trained facilitators will teach participants how to use the VR devices and provide briefing sessions on how to play the game. For the Intervention Group 1, they will play the game in two separate sessions (about 4 months between the two sessions).

OTHER

VR Handwashing Game (1 session) + Video on hand hygiene (1 session)

For Intervention Group 2, participants will attain one VR game session and 1 video-instructed session.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The University of Hong Kong

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• King-wa Fu, Professor · School of Future Media, The University of Hong Kong

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Max Age

15 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-03-01

Primary Completion

2027-08-30

Completion

2027-08-30

Countries

• Hong Kong

Study Locations