Research Symposium

BIO

May Sulema is a third-year student at Florida State University, majoring in Psychology and minoring in both Child Development and General Business. While her interests within the field of Psychology are broad, she is particularly interested in suicide and suicide prevention, as well as emotional regulation. May is actively involved in several research and leadership roles within Florida State University, including her work as a Peer Educator with RENEW, and as a Research Assistant in both the Joiner Lab and the March Lab. She is also a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, where she previously served as Mental Health Chairman. May plans to pursue graduate studies and continue her research in the field of Psychology.

A New Realm in Suicide Prevention: A Validation Study

Abstract

Suicide remains a leading cause of death and suicide rates in the United States continue to rise. Virtual reality (VR) offers a novel approach for studying suicide risk in a controlled and ethical environment. It allows researchers to experimentally manipulate key factors contributing to suicide behavior. However, past VR studies that used VR scenarios from pre-existing commercial games faced several challenges, including a limited representation of suicide methods and an inability to study decision-making processes. This study aims to validate four newly developed VR suicide scenarios – jumping, cutting, shooting, and overdosing – that have been designed to better reflect real-world methods of suicide in comparison to past VR suicide studies.   

A sample of 110 undergraduate students will undergo the four novel VR suicide scenarios that will be randomized via a balanced Latin Square Design. Their decisions in the VR scenarios (i.e., VR suicide, aborted VR suicide, and safe option) as well as various suicide risk factors, including all key components to the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (ITS), will be notated. Statistical analyses will be conducted using R, including descriptive statistics, chi-squares to compare realism and suicide-relevance across VR scenarios, and t-tests to examine differences between those who engaged in VR suicide and those who did not. Suicide attempt and aborted suicide attempt rates will be calculated across all four scenarios, and logistic regressions will be used to identify predictors of VR suicide engagement. Additionally, hierarchical logistic regressions will be performed to assess the ITS. 

Keywords: Virtual Reality, Suicide, Suicide Prevention