248. Effectiveness of situational JAPANESE virtual simulation in alleviating social barriers among university students with social anxiety

Abstract Background Current interventions for social anxiety among university students predominantly focus on traditional psychological counselling or group training, lacking effective means for progressive exposure and practice within embodied, highly realistic social scenarios. This study innovatively applied Situational Japanese Virtual Simulation (SJVS) to university students with social anxiety, aiming to examine its immediate and sustained efficacy in improving students' social barriers by simulating authentic Japanese social interaction scenarios. Methods Employing a randomised controlled trial design, 96 university students with moderate to high levels of social anxiety from a higher education institution were recruited and randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group, comprising 48 participants each. The experimental group underwent a 12-week intervention comprising twice-weekly Situational Japanese Virtual Simulation sessions. These simulations covered typical social scenarios such as daily greetings, classroom presentations, group discussions, and mock interviews, with the system providing real-time voice interaction and behavioural feedback. The control group received conventional Japanese situational conversation practice (offline role-play) at equivalent frequency. Assessments were conducted pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at one-month follow-up using the Social Anxiety Scale for College Students (SASC), Japanese Communication Self-Efficacy Scale (JCSES), and Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SAD). Behavioural engagement data during virtual simulations were also recorded. Results As shown in Table 1, post-intervention, the experimental group exhibited a significant reduction in SASC total scores compared to baseline (36.4% decrease, p<.001), whereas the control group showed only a marginal decrease (11.2% reduction, p=.08). The experimental group demonstrated a significant improvement in Japanese communicative efficacy (JCSES score increased by 42.1%, p<.001) and a marked reduction in social avoidance behaviours. During the follow-up period, the experimental group maintained stable outcomes. Behavioural data indicated that as the complexity of simulated scenarios progressively increased, both the duration of verbal interactions and the frequency of students in the experimental group initiating conversations rose significantly (p<.01). Discussion Scenario-based Japanese virtual simulation effectively alleviates social anxiety among university students by providing a controllable, progressive social exposure environment coupled with real-time feedback mechanisms. This approach enhances their sense of efficacy in foreign language communication while reducing social avoidance behaviours. Research indicates that technology-enabled simulation training serves as an effective supplementary intervention for social anxiety, offering practical evidence for integrating language learning with psychological interventions. It is recommended that such virtual simulation programmes be integrated into university mental health and language teaching initiatives. Future research should further explore their application potential across diverse cultural contexts and anxiety subtypes. Funding No. 231000575102244.