Newswise — Having a mental illness significantly increases your risk of being arrested during an encounter with police, with 25% of people with a mental illness reporting an arrest history. Research shows that excessive force is common and that 25% of fatal police incidents involve people with mental illnesses.
Traditional police training provides limited opportunities for officers to practice handling complex civilian interactions, particularly those with individuals facing a mental health crisis. This lack of practical experience leaves police officers ill-prepared to navigate such situations with the necessary empathy and de-escalation skills, often leading to poor outcomes. .
A new study from Florida Atlantic University offers a promising avenue to address this gap using virtual reality (VR) in a realistic, controlled environment.
This study investigated how deeply immersed law enforcement officers are in a virtual training environment and assessed their empathy and sympathy for a non-player character (NPC) suffering from schizophrenic psychosis. Compassion involves feeling concern and sympathy for another person’s difficulties, but empathy involves working at a deeper level to understand and share another person’s emotional experience from that person’s perspective. Involvement is required.
The researchers measured immersion in 40 police officers using a 28-item presence questionnaire and used statistical methods to analyze the relationship between immersion, empathy, and sympathy.
A study published in the journal Criminal Behavior and Mental Health found that police officers who participated in VR mental health training reported moderate to high levels of immersion, suggesting that such training It has been suggested that this method may be complementary. Most police officers felt immersed in the virtual environment, and sensory engagement and naturalness of interaction were important factors influencing immersion. Although some officers initially experienced confusion and disorientation, these feelings led to greater empathy in their responses.
“This is where it gets particularly interesting,” says senior author Lisa M. Dalio, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice within FAU’s School of Social Work and Criminal Justice. “Feelings of disorientation often lead to higher levels of empathy later on. It’s a compelling connection. One possible explanation is that initial confusion or disorientation may cause police officers to This disruption may allow them to be more open to understanding the non-player character’s perspective, ultimately increasing their empathy for the situation. There is.”
Findings also show that compassion-related items are more strongly correlated with each other than empathy-related items, highlighting the distinct nature of these emotional responses. However, both sympathy and empathy scales showed strong internal consistency, with significant correlations between items such as “I felt empathetic” and “I felt what they felt.” , which further supports the validity of the empathy scale.
Furthermore, both the cognitive and affective aspects of being in the virtual environment contributed to how police officers empathized with and sympathized with the virtual characters. Officers who felt more immersed and involved were more likely to form deeper emotional connections with the characters.
“Factors such as immersion, engagement, and unfamiliarity with VR headsets emerged as indicators of a stronger emotional connection,” Dalio says. “Our research shows that by improving these elements in future VR simulations, well-designed virtual environments can be more effective in fostering empathy and empathy, and foster deeper emotional and cognitive engagement.” This suggests that the importance of
Other findings from the study show that:
75% of participants felt they had control over events in the virtual environment, and an even higher percentage said the environment was responsive to their actions. 80% of participants agreed that all senses were engaged, and no one reported a lack of auditory involvement. About two-thirds felt that interactions were natural, and more than 70% felt that movement in virtual space was natural. Participants reported high awareness of both the real world and the VR device, which may have influenced the sense of immersion. 57% of participants felt they learned new techniques to improve their performance.
“Police can actively participate and participate in VR exercises to better understand how to respond to people in a mental health crisis,” Dalio said. “The next step is to investigate how this tool can enhance real-world responses. As VR technology becomes more integrated into law enforcement, the evidence supporting its effectiveness continues to grow. ”
Co-authors of the study are Dr. Jesse Saginer, ACIP, professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at the University of Maryland;
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About Florida Atlantic University: Florida Atlantic University was founded in 1961 and officially opened in 1964 as Florida’s fifth public university. The university currently enrolls more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses along the southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the university has doubled its research spending and surpassed its peers in student achievement. FAU embodies an innovative model that closes traditional achievement gaps through the coexistence of access and excellence. FAU is designated as a Hispanic-serving institution and is recognized as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report and as an institution with high research activity by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Education. For more information, please visit www.fau.edu.
