A Virtual World for Learning Skills of Independent Living: a Formative Evaluation

A web-based virtual world was developed to address negative symptoms in people being assisted by community mental health services. The formative evaluation of this virtual world describes the rationale, stakeholder consultation, behavioral objectives, and design principles. Results are presented for a two-phase evaluation of the acceptability and usability of the prototype with mental health support workers and their adult clients. Phase 1 was the development of an initial prototype virtual world and conduct of a survey of 46 support workers’ responses to a questionnaire on their views about that world. Results indicated moderate levels of acceptability and credibility of the concept and identified several perceived barriers to usability by potential clients. Phase 2 was the development of a second prototype and its evaluation by 20 support workers and 10 clients from a mental health support service following an instruction session using the second prototype. Results showed that most of the support workers and clients found it easy to use the virtual world features when assisted by a trainer, and most support workers indicated that they would use it in the future to assist them both to support some of their clients and for their own learning. Our findings indicate that virtual worlds might be useful to assist acquisition or recovery of skills of independent living. This might apply to a wider group that those with mental illness, for example other clinical groups involving disabilities in functional behaviors, including acquired neurological disorders and developmental disabilities.