ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Positive Psychology
A Pilot Study: Virtual Reality-Based Intervention to Boost Optimism and Alleviate Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in Undergraduates
Provisionally accepted
Yun-Ju Lai1*
Jiraporn Sangpara1Suppakorn Wankrathok1Ching Hwa Chang2Shun-Chun Yu2Amee Patel1Hung-Hsin Chen2Yuan Zhang1
Jiabin Shen1
Yan Wang1- 1University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, United States
- 2Institute of Biomedical Sciences Academia Sinica, Taipei City, Taiwan
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Objective: This pilot randomized controlled trial evaluated the short-and long-term effectiveness of a Positive Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (PCBT)–based virtual reality (VR) intervention in enhancing optimism and improving mental health outcomes among undergraduate students with low baseline optimism, compared with a task-based VR control. Methods: Twenty-eight full-time undergraduate students with low optimism (Life Orientation Test–Revised [LOT-R] ≤ 13) were randomly assigned to a PCBT-based VR intervention (n = 15) or a task-based VR control (n = 13). Participants completed six weekly 30-minute VR sessions. Optimism, perceived stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and at 3-and 6-month follow-ups. Linear mixed-effects models adjusted for age, gender, and academic period were used to evaluate intervention effects across time. Results: All participants completed post-intervention assessments, and 25 (89.29%) completed the 6-month follow-up. The PCBT-based VR group demonstrated a significant short-term increase in optimism (β = 2.02, p = 0.01) and a significant reduction in depressive symptoms (β = −3.04, p = 0.01) compared with the control group. Anxiety showed a trend toward short-term reduction, while stress did not change significantly. Across the 6-month follow-up, the intervention group maintained higher overall optimism than controls; however, the group-by-time interaction was not significant, indicating similar long-term trajectories for optimism, stress, anxiety, and depression across groups. Conclusion: A PCBT-based VR intervention produced meaningful short-term improvements in optimism and depressive symptoms among undergraduates with low optimism, with optimism gains sustained for six months. These findings suggest that VR-delivered positive psychology interventions may be a feasible and engaging approach to support student mental health. Larger, multi-site trials are needed to confirm efficacy and optimize long-term effects.
Keywords: Anxiety, Depression, optimism, stress, VR intervention
Received: 30 Dec 2025; Accepted: 11 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Lai, Sangpara, Wankrathok, Chang, Yu, Patel, Chen, Zhang, Shen and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yun-Ju Lai
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