Designing Loving-Kindness Meditation in Virtual Reality for Long-Distance Romantic Relationships
Xian Wang, Xiaoyu Mo, Lik Hang N Lee, Xiaoying Wei, Xiaofu Jin, Mingming Fan, Pan Hui
arXiv Preprint Archive September 21, 2023 preprint
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study with prototype design and comparative evaluation |
|---|---|
| Population | Couples |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Cs.hc |
| Key findings | Both VR and video conferencing LKM sessions positively affect intimate relationships, but the VR prototype is more preferable for long-term use. |
Abstract
Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) is used in clinical psychology for couples' relationship therapy, but physical isolation can make the relationship more strained and inaccessible to LKM. Virtual reality (VR) can provide immersive LKM activities for long-distance couples. However, no suitable commercial VR applications for couples exist to engage in LKM activities of long-distance. This paper organized a series of workshops with couples to build a prototype of a couple-preferred LKM app. Through analysis of participants' design works and semi-structured interviews, we derived design considerations for such VR apps and created a prototype for couples to experience. We conducted a study with couples to understand their experiences of performing LKM using the VR prototype and a traditional video conferencing tool. Results show that LKM session utilizing both tools has a positive effect on the intimate relationship and the VR prototype is a more preferable tool for long-term use. We believe our experience can inform future researchers.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on meditation, most cited first.