Entertainment or Engagement? An Examination of Transportation and Gender in Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) promises a new world of opportunities for public health practitioners including the potential for developing more engaging health narratives. However, a limited amount of research has been conducted on the effectiveness of VR as a form of narrative persuasion. Past research has noted that mental transportation plays a role in the persuasiveness of narratives. Through an experimental design, this study sought to examine transportation in a VR simulation and determine if demographic characteristics impact an individual's ability to be transported into a narrative. Transportation did occur in the VR simulation; however, it was not more significant than the 2D simulation. Additionally, the results revealed gender differences in transportation scores, but the social norm message did not impact the behavioral intention to refrain from texting while driving in the future. These findings highlight the potential complexities of implementing VR technologies in health communication campaigns.