Virtual simulation application in psychological interview: A comparative evaluation of psychology students' self-efficacy, anxiety and skill levels

Virtual simulations are promising applications with advantages in various aspects such as providing a realistic experience, lacking the risk of harming the client, and being able to practice unlimited times. It is noteworthy that although virtual client applications are already used in various health disciplines, they have a very limited number of examples in the field of psychology. This situation creates a limitation in inference about the effectiveness of virtual client practices in psychology. As far as is known, in our country, there is no virtual client application developed in the field of psychology, in which clinical interview is frequently applied. Under this framework, in this thesis study, a virtual simulation application's effect on psychology department students' self-efficacy, anxiety, and skill levels are examined along with the user experience in virtual simulation application. The sample of the research consists of 75 psychology students who have completed a course on basic interview skills. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the virtual simulation application, written simulation application and control groups. The Participant Information Form, Counseling Self-Efficacy Scales, Counseling Self-Estimate Inventory, List of Anxious Situations in Clinical Interview, the State and Trait Anxiety Scale, and the questions in the simulation program were used to collect data on the effectiveness of the developed virtual program. Also, System Usability Scale and Virtual Interview Simulation Evaluation Form tools were used to evaluate usability of the virtual simulation application. Effectiveness measurements were taken three times as before the first application, after the second application which is one week later, and at the end of the first month following the second application. Usability measurements were taken from the participants who experienced the virtual program after the second application. 3 X 3 mixed-design ANOVA analyzes were conducted for the data on effectiveness, and descriptive analyzes were conducted for the usability data. According to the findings, there were no significant differences between the virtual simulation group and other groups in both post-test and follow-up measurements. In the post-test measurement, it was observed that there was no significant change in self-efficacy levels for all groups, whilst there was a significant decrease in anxiety levels. In skill measurement, there is an increase only in virtual and written simulation groups. In addition, findings regarding the use experience of the virtual group reveal that the virtual simulation program is user-friendly and positively perceived. The findings, limitations and strengths of the study were discussed in the light of the literature and concluded with recommendations related to this field.