Gosh! It is truly happening to me: Embodying adverse health outcomes through immersive virtual reality to promote perceived risk and healthy behaviors

This study investigated the unique affordances of virtual reality technology, distinguishing it from other media formats in facilitating the subjective embodiment of physical sensations and health risk perceptions. Employing a between-subjects experimental design (N = 94), this study compared the impacts of embodying macular degeneration symptoms through virtual reality with those of a personal computer simulation. This investigation aimed to assess how VR-enabled embodied experiences affect risk perception and promote healthy behaviors. The results demonstrated that VR embodiment significantly enhanced perceived susceptibility to macular degeneration, as mediated by the illusion of virtual body ownership. This heightened risk perception led to immediate improvements in participants’ intentions to engage in healthy behaviors and was observed to significantly influence actual health-related behaviors two weeks post-exposure. This study reveals potential underlying mechanisms through which VR embodiment effects manifest, thereby offering new insights into how VR can be harnessed as a potent tool in health communication.