Alleviating University Students' Test Anxiety Via Virtual Reality "Awe Experiences

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University students are experiencing an unprecedented mental health crisis. 47% of students state that mental health difficulties had a negative impact on their university experience, with 30% unsure of where to go for help.Our solution aims to work with higher education academic institutions to find new ways to support young people in strengthening their emotional and psychological wellbeing. We will do so by focusing on interventions during their most vulnerable moments, such as exam season, essay deadlines and presentations.Our innovative approach leverages VR technology to deliver a 15-minute, immersive "awe" experience that alleviates anxiety and stress by fostering feelings of confidence, calm, and focus. Guided, non-verbal, and culturally neutral, the experience creates a sense of awe by transporting the user through an architectural landscape of light and sound objects, carefully designed to first raise, then lower stress.This project will build on existing prototypes which have already been tested on over 100 people to deliver emotional and psychological wellness via immersive digital experiences. Our work will help to guide our future business model. We're currently looking at a B2B with a SaaS approach that users can access directly. We will also work with institutions to understand how we can help them to better support students via a D2C model where students would have direct access. What's more, we also plan to build a tool kit to allow universities to do so digitally. This allows students to get the help that they need at a fraction of the cost of counselling.Across every step of the process, we've seen how iterative and constant innovation is key to both product development and commercial success. We are part of the Future NHS XR forum and we've found how quickly sharing questions and learning allows us all to leap forward in the development and adoption of new technologies in the healthcare and prevention sphere.We believe that working with students will be fundamental in supporting CYP in developing self-management skills and strengthening mental wellbeing.