The effect of privacy education given with virtual reality application on children's privacy awareness and no saying skills

This research was conducted to evaluate the effect of virtual reality (VR)-based privacy education on 4th grade students' privacy awareness and ability to say no. The research was conducted in a primary school affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in a province in the Eastern Anatolia Region between November 2024 and May 2025 with a pretest/posttest control group. The population of the study consists of 4th grade students studying in primary schools in the province. The school where the data were collected was determined by lottery method among the schools that met the sample size. In the G*Power analysis, it was calculated that 88 students would be sufficient, but the research was completed by including a total of 97 students in the experimental (S=46) and control groups (S=51). Students in the experimental group were given privacy training using virtual VR goggles. Child Introductory Information Form, Privacy Awareness Scale for Primary School Students and Ability to Say No Scale for Children (SN) were used as data collection tools. Data were analyzed with SPSS V26 program. Ethical principles were adhered to during the research process. The experimental and control groups were found to be similar in terms of descriptive characteristics. It was found that the Privacy Awareness Scale for Primary School Students scores of the experimental and control groups were similar before the training, but after the training, there was an increase in favor of the experimental group and this constituted a statistical difference (p<0.001). It was found that the SN scores of the experimental and control groups were similar before the training, but after the training, there was an increase in the experimental group and this constituted a statistical difference (p<0.001). It was found that VR-based privacy education increased students' privacy awareness and ability to say no. It is thought that providing children with privacy education at an early age, raising awareness through innovative methods such as VR and involving parents in this process will play an important role in increasing the safety of children against the risk of sexual abuse.