The impact of virtual alcohol-related stimuli on craving in university students: an exploratory virtual reality...

This exploratory study aimed to examine how virtual reality (VR) environments as an experimental tool can evoke and modulate alcohol craving among university students. Specifically, we investigated how exposure to a party scene with alcohol-related stimuli versus a relaxing environment influenced craving levels.

Thirty-seven university students were sequentially immersed in two VR scenarios-a party scene with alcohol cues and a nature-based relaxation scene. Craving was assessed at three time points using a VAS, and post-exposure using the Alcohol Urge Questionnaire (AUQ). A linear mixed-effects model tested the influence of time and individual predictors (age, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test [AUDIT-C], AUQ, Questionnaire on the Experience of Presence [QEP], sex) on craving dynamics.

A linear mixed-effects model was used to examine craving trajectories across repeated measurement time points during the VR sessions. Craving did not significantly increase from baseline to midpoint (P = .06) and decreased significantly from midpoint to end (P = .002). Post-exposure AUQ scores as a state measure of craving were the only significant predictor of overall craving intensity (P < .001); age, sex, AUDIT-C, and sense of presence (QEP) had no significant effects.

VR environments can recreate real-life craving fluctuations, with increased urge in cue-rich settings and reduction in calming contexts. Our findings position VR as an experimental tool for studying craving dynamics; therapeutic efficacy was not assessed.