The Integration of Interactive Psychoeducation and Virtual Agent Embodiment in Virtual Reality Training: An Evaluation on Breathing Techniques

Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly used in education for its ability to create engaging learning experiences. However, VR-based systems for skill acquisition, especially in the health domain, often lack adequate educational foundations, potentially limiting their effectiveness. To address this limitation, this paper investigates an interactive psychoeducation that incorporates users' real-time physiological signals. Moreover, given the growing use of virtual agents in education and their potential to enhance psychoeducation delivery through natural, human-like interactions, the paper also studies the role of virtual agent embodiment as a second variable. We conducted a 2×2 between-subjects study (n = 56) using a VRbased breathing training system, varying the presence of psychoeducation and virtual agent embodiment to assess their individual and combined impacts on users' self-efficacy, motivation, attention, social presence, and performance of the taught skill. Our results revealed that psychoeducation significantly enhanced self-efficacy and motivation, particularly by increasing participants' interest in, and perceived value of, the experience, while agent embodiment improved social presence, relatedness, and skill performance. These findings show that interactive psychoeducation and embodied virtual agents can enhance complementary aspects of VR-based training effectiveness.