JMIR XR and Spatial Computing (JMXR)

Youth mental health is a global public health priority, with rising rates of anxiety and depression, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the early onset and substantial burden of mental disorders in this age group, young people are less likely than adults to seek professional help and face barriers such as workforce shortages, stigma, and low mental health literacy. Although efforts such as outreach initiatives and school-based programs have been implemented, innovative and scalable solutions remain limited. Digital technologies, including the metaverse, may offer flexible and stigma-reducing approaches to mental health care; however, evidence regarding their real-world feasibility and acceptability is scarce.

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are prevalent and characterized by high relapse rates. Individuals with mild to borderline intellectual disability (MBID) are more likely to develop SUDs and face barriers within treatment related to difficulties they experience with abstract thinking, verbal skills, and generalizing learned strategies to real-world contexts. Therefore, experiential, context-rich approaches are needed that reduce reliance on retrospective verbal reflection, support in-context identification of triggers, and allow the rehearsal of coping responses. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) may provide realistic, safe environments where patients with SUD and MBID can practice cognitive and behavioral skills with visual and practice-oriented materials.

Augmented reality (AR) can provide risk-free training for medical trainees, yet little is known about which learner characteristics facilitate adoption or inform training design.

Cardiac arrest is a critical medical emergency that requires strict adherence to clinical guidelines to achieve optimal outcomes. Deviations from these guidelines, often due to task complexity, can adversely affect patient outcomes. Augmented reality (AR) offers a way to deliver role-specific, in-view guidance, but evidence on its perceived usability, user experience, and acceptability in cardiac arrest resuscitation remains limited.

Vaping among youth and young adults (YYAs) has become a significant public health issue, with increasing prevalence and associated health risks. Despite awareness of these risks, many YYAs struggle to quit due to complex social pressures, stress, and a lack of tailored interventions. Digital tools, including augmented reality (AR), offer an opportunity to address these challenges by creating engaging and personalized support systems.

Background: Depression is a prevalent mental health condition affecting millions worldwide, while many individuals face significant barriers to accessing effective therapy. Metaverse has emerged as a promising platform for addressing these challenges. Its three-dimensional (3D) virtual environments allow users to engage through customizable avatars, supporting the elicitation of therapy-related emotions, an essential component of therapeutic interventions.

Medical education still faces challenges in teaching complex human cardiac anatomy to a wide range of learners, especially in the subject of congenital heart defects. Traditional educational methods, such as cadaver dissection and the use of textbooks, still face some limitations, e.g, such as specimen availability and student comfort. The objective of this research is to employ newer technologies, like virtual reality (VR), to teach the anatomy of congenital heart defects (CHDs) of three-dimensional (3D) heart models from real CT-scan images, to offer a more profound learning experience for learners and mentors.

Extended reality (XR), encompassing virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR), is increasingly used in neurorehabilitation to provide multisensory feedback and promote neural plasticity in sensorimotor networks.

Immersive virtual reality (VR) technology presents digital simulations that create the sense of an actual experience. VR simulations are persuasive enough to elicit physiological reactions that mirror real-world responses. Prior research suggests that fear responses and sensation seeking are inversely correlated, but that work largely relies on self-reported outcomes and hypothetical scenarios.

Stroke is a leading cause of disability, often accompanied by Unilateral Spatial Neglect (USN), which severely impairs recovery. Traditional assessments like paper-pencil tests provide limited insights into behaviors and eye-hand coordination during real-world tasks. Advances in hand pose estimation and eye-tracking in combination with augmented reality (AR) offer potential for data-driven assessments of naturalistic interactions.

Chronic pain management in public health services often struggles with limited engagement, emotional burden, and medication use. XR shows promise in specialized settings, but evidence for co-design and integration into primary care remains limited.

Virtual reality (VR) is showing increasing promises in assessing, understanding and treating mental health difficulties. Virtual humans (VH) are a key aspect within many VR mental health applications. While VHs can play diverse roles and display varied characteristics, their design and influence have rarely been the primary focus of mental health research.