@inproceedings{weiss2026,
title = {Bridging the Reality Gap: Immersive VR Simulation for Enhancing Stress Resilience in Medical Students},
author = {S Weiss and L Hanke and E Schröder and M Weinberg and T Dicks and C Castell and M Wessels and H Hecht and P Dietz and T Huber and C Hansen},
doi = {10.1109/VRW70859.2026.00156},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-05-01},
urldate = {2026-05-01},
booktitle = {IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW)},
journal = {2026 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW)},
pages = { 814-818},
abstract = {Medical students often face a “reality gap” between theory and clinical practice, leading to burnout. We present a system to induce stress as first step for later stress resilience trainings through immersive simulations of clinical conflicts. Based on a survey of 374 professionals, we developed four scenarios targeting stressors like “conflict with superiors” and “time pressure,” utilizing realistic locations and NPCs. Our framework uses a Meta Quest 3 and a custom Android app for real-time experimenter control. To overcome static training limitations, we explore local Large Language Models (LLMs) for generative NPC behavior. We detail a work-in-progress evaluation protocol using physiological measures (HR, HRV, BF) and questionnaires, providing a scalable framework for medical stress inoculation training.},
howpublished = { IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
