Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Men diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD) often face significant challenges in daily functioning, particularly within social settings. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR)-based extreme sports games in reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress in this population. The intervention was designed to offer an engaging, immersive, and potentially less stigmatizing alternative to conventional therapeutic approaches. METHODS: A quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test assessments was employed. Eighty-four men with SAD were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n = 42) or a control group (n = 42). The experimental group participated in VR extreme sports sessions. Psychological symptoms were measured using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21), and data were analyzed via Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Normality of data distribution was confirmed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (p > 0.05), and Levene's test also confirmed the homogeneity of variances (p > 0.05), supporting the use of ANCOVA to compare adjusted post-test scores between groups. RESULTS: The VR-based intervention led to significant reductions across all three measured domains. Depression (η (2) = 0.916), anxiety (η (2) = 0.901), and stress (η (2) = 0.829) levels showed substantial improvement in the experimental group compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: These findings highlight the promise of VR-based extreme sports as a novel, non-pharmacological intervention for men with SAD. By enabling controlled exposure to anxiety-provoking situations within a safe and immersive environment, the intervention effectively alleviated symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. Moreover, this approach may overcome common treatment barriers such as stigma and reluctance toward traditional therapy. Future large-scale, longitudinal studies are recommended to validate these outcomes and explore their long-term sustainability.