Introduction
Counseling skills training is a crucial component of counseling education. However, the limited availability of case sources, insufficient simulated scenarios, and constraints on training and supervision personnel restrict students’ opportunities to practice counseling skills, thereby impacting their professional competency. A key challenge for counseling educators is providing students with opportunities to learn counseling skills in real-world settings (Walker, 2009). Although role-playing techniques are frequently employed in counseling skills training (Rogers et al., 2022), concerns remain regarding the authenticity of role-played cases (Melluish et al., 2007) and the financial and human resource costs associated with standardized cases (Caltabiano et al., 2018). Consequently, the integration of emerging technologies into counseling skills training to offer realistic and safe simulated scenarios while minimizing the limitations of live role-playing has become a pressing issue for counseling educators, who must also be mindful of technological challenges and limitations. Virtual reality (VR) has been shown to enhance learning experiences, increase engagement, facilitate knowledge transfer, and promote collaboration and empathy in the education field (Deshmukh et al., 2023; Purnama et al., 2023; Shin, 2017; Southgate et al., 2019; Zyoud & Zyoud, 2021). However, research on the application of VR in counseling education, particularly in counseling skills training, remains scarce. VR has already been employed in clinical training for medical students, nurses, and social workers (Kleinsmith et al., 2015; Lowell & Alshammari, 2019; Washburn et al., 2016). In the field of counseling education, only a limited number of studies have explored the use of VR for psychological assessment and role-playing exercises (Lan et al., 2021; Lowell & Alshammari, 2019; Rogers et al., 2022; Wilkinson & Bazile, 2019). This research aims to develop and implement a VR-based training system for novice counselors, enabling them to interact with virtual clients and practice counseling skills. The goal is for this VR counseling training system to serve as a supplementary tool for counseling training programs.
Methods
This study targets third-year undergraduate students in counseling-related programs, employing a mixed-methods approach that integrates both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. Data collection includes the VR training system, counseling skills practice feedback forms, reflective journals, and individual counseling competency assessment forms, allowing for the simultaneous gathering of qualitative and quantitative data to examine participants’ experiences and learning outcomes.
Results
The quantitative results of this study are based on the analysis of responses to the 16-item quantitative section of the Counseling Skills Practice Feedback Form, completed after weekly counseling skills practice sessions, as well as the Individual Counseling Competency Assessment Form, administered both before and after training. Participants reported experiencing significantly less pressure when using the Virtual Reality (VR) Training System, even compared to peer role-playing exercises. They also found the system’s prompts helpful in practicing counseling techniques. However, they suggested that the design of the virtual client’s body language, facial expressions, and appearance could be improved.
After practicing counseling skills using the VR Training System, participants demonstrated significant improvements in individual counseling competencies. Post-test scores were significantly higher than pre-test scores across several dimensions, including the total score, process skills, deep interaction, information exchange, basic communication, and conceptualization skills (p < .001). Additionally, professional behavior, personalization skills, and theoretical foundations also showed significant improvement (p < .05). These findings suggest that after 14 sessions of counseling skills practice using the VR system, participants experienced substantial progress in their counseling skills. However, no significant difference was observed in the personality traits subscale.
In the qualitative analysis, the research team conducted repeated readings of participants’ reflective journals and performed coding analysis to extract key themes. Participants reported feeling intrigued and satisfied while using the VR Counselor Training System. They found the system interface clear and easy to navigate, considering it a practical and convenient tool for learning counseling skills. However, they also pointed out some limitations, such as the relatively lower accuracy of speech recognition compared to text input, and participants reported that they sometimes found it difficult to respond due to the lack of facial emotional expressions from the virtual client.
Participants experienced lower anxiety levels compared to practicing with real individuals, benefiting from the ability to engage in repeated practice sessions. The high realism of the simulated counseling scenarios enhanced their immersion in the counseling environment. However, some participants were affected by the intonation of the virtual client and perceived a lack of flexibility in dialogues, differentiating the experience from real-life counseling interactions. Participants provided positive feedback and reflections on various system features, including setting learning objectives, offering prompts, providing immediate feedback, and demonstrating example dialogues. Practicing counseling skills with virtual clients strengthened their learning by integrating classroom knowledge, improving familiarity with counseling techniques, and expanding their understanding of counseling topics. Additionally, they reflected on their counseling abilities, recognized the differences between counseling conversations and everyday dialogue, acknowledged the challenges of learning counseling skills, and became more aware of how personal life experiences influence their application of counseling techniques.
Discussion and Conclusion
The research findings indicate that the Virtual Reality (VR) Training System can enhance individual counseling competencies and motivation for learning counseling skills. However, some participants experienced a slight decrease in engagement due to challenges in achieving learning objectives, as well as the design and expressive limitations of virtual client avatars. Additionally, after using the system, participants demonstrated significant improvements in counseling abilities, with an increased success rate in achieving practice goals in the later stages of training. Nonetheless, differences in the structural complexity of counseling skills and the clarity of system prompts influenced the attainment of specific skill-related goals. Participants also became more aware of the challenges in mastering counseling techniques and recognized the need for additional practice.
Recommendations
Based on the research findings, this study proposes the following recommendations:
1. Continuously strengthen the development of the corpus based on the research results.
2. Encourage novice counselors to take a more proactive approach in using the VR-based training system for self-directed practice and enhance feedback mechanisms to improve positive learning outcomes.
3. The VR-based training system utilized in this study is intended as a supplementary self-training tool for counseling skills training courses and cannot fully replace traditional training methods.
4. Invite more novice counselors from different fields (such as helpers in related institutions and volunteers) to participate in the study to further explore the system’s impact on improving counseling abilities.
5. Compare the counseling abilities of novice counselors who use this system for counseling skills training with those who do not.
Conclusion
This system is the first of its kind in the domestic counseling field to facilitate counseling dialogue training with virtual clients. It has developed system functionalities that support counseling skills training; however, there are areas that require further enhancement, particularly in system features and corpus expansion. Finally, based on the research findings, recommendations are provided to further enrich the dialogue content of the corpus and serve as a reference for future research on counseling skills training for novice counselors.
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