Currently submitted to: JMIR Medical Education
Date Submitted: Sep 10, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Sep 11, 2026 - Nov 6, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Virtual reality-based simulation training of non-technical skills in healthcare professionals: an exploratory multi-study on self-efficacy and autonomous motivation
ABSTRACT
Background:
The use of virtual reality as a learning tool for healthcare professionals is increasing. Yet there has been little research to evaluate its effectiveness.
Objective:
The aim of this multi-study was to explore the extent to which the program “virtual reality-based simulation Innlandet” (VR-SIMI) is associated with self-efficacy in non-technical skills and indicators of autonomous motivation and specific support factors in healthcare professionals.
Methods:
Using a pragmatic approach, an explorative multi-study design was used to identify patterns of associations and possible changes over repeated sessions. In Study 1, 79 healthcare professionals with different occupations completed a questionnaire after a single VR-SIMI session. In Study 2, 24 healthcare professionals in child and adolescent mental healthcare reported self-efficacy at three time points: (1) before participating in the first session, (2) immediately following the first session, and (3) after completing three sessions.
Results:
Study 1 indicated moderate levels of self-efficacy (30.18±3.61), high levels of intrinsic motivation (interest/enjoyment score of 6.07±0.66) and of identified regulation (value/usefulness, 6.22±0.86), and low ratings of pressure/tension (2.14±1.02). Additionally, participants reported high scores on specific support factors, highlighting the importance of these elements in the study context. No statistically significant correlation was found between self-efficacy and any of the motivation measures. However, some significant correlations were found related to the participants’ background characteristics. Study 2 showed a small, short-term increase of self-efficacy from T0 to T1 (EMM difference -1.48; p=0.042) but no statistically significant overall time effect in the LMM (F=2.53, p=0.096). Results were affected by small sample size and missing data.
Conclusions:
These preliminary findings indicate that VR-SIMI can support autonomous motivation and self-efficacy for non-technical skills. However, given the quasi-experimental, non-controlled design with limited longitudinal data, casual inferences cannot be established. Further research is required to determine the impact of VR-based simulation on actual learning outcomes.
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