The e-SaVoR Project: Savoring and Virtual Reality to Enhance Emerging Adults' Well-Being

Abstract

This column will try to describe the characteristics of current cyberpsychology research in Europe. In particular, CyberEurope aims at describing the leading research groups and projects running on the other side of the Ocean.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people's lives have been modified as daily interactions have been replaced by long periods of lockdown, isolation, and loneliness. In addition, schools, universities, and work activities were suspended and then changed to online formats, and limited travel and social distancing were imposed to reduce the spread of COVID-19. All these unexpected changes have been effective in containing the spread of the virus but have had negative consequences on people's psychological health and on emerging adults¹—those aged 18–30 whose adulthood is still “emerging,” as they still have to accomplish several steps (e.g., leaving the parental home, completing their education, finding a job, and having a stable romantic relationship).²

Literature shows that emerging adults suffered mental and emotional challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.^1,3 They experienced fear of contracting the virus and concern about family members and close friends getting sick. They also felt as if they had no control over their life and experienced loneliness due to being away from their loved ones. All these conditions caused several mental health conditions such as psychological distress, anxiety, depression, frustration, irritability, and reduced sleep quality.^1,3 For instance, in the research carried out by Liu et al.³ on 898 emerging adults, many participants reported high depression scores (43%), high anxiety levels (45%), and high levels of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (31%) and these results indicates that emerging adults' well-being has been severely compromised.

Savoring to Counter Mental and Emotional Challenges in the Pandemic

In this context, it becomes essential to promote the well-being of emerging adults, and a promising approach is represented by savoring, defined as the ability to generate, extend, and intensify positive emotions voluntarily.⁴ Bryant and Veroff⁴ also conceptualize it as the ability to live, appreciate, and increase positive experiences in our life.

Theoretically, savoring has been identified as a mechanism strictly connected to the well-known theories of positive psychology, that is, the broaden and build theory of positive emotions and the undoing hypothesis.⁵ Thus, savoring plays a fundamental role, as it allows the benefits derived from positive experiences and emotions to be amplified and extended. It is also important to highlight that savoring does not exclusively include focusing on the positive aspects of life while ignoring the negative ones. Indeed, the benefits of savoring are visible in the ability to notice and appreciate positive moments despite and during the life difficulties⁴ such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In a meta-analytical review conducted by Smith et al.,⁶ the consistent impact emerges of savoring interventions in increasing positive emotions and well-being. Such interventions can take different forms, including activities aimed at increasing anticipation of future positive events, increasing awareness of positive stimuli and emotions in the present, and encouraging positive reminiscence of past events.

The Savor Project

Starting from these premises, the Research Unit in Digital Media, Psychology, and Well-Being in the Department of Psychology of the Catholic University of Milan, in collaboration with Drs. Francesca Pesce and Lucia Scuzzarella, developed a self-help e-savoring intervention on emerging adult participants named the Savor Project. It began in March 2022 and ended in May 2022.

The aim was to investigate the feasibility and preliminary effects of the Savor Project in increasing savoring beliefs (people's perceptions of their capacity to enjoy positive events⁵), savoring strategies (behaviors or thoughts that can amplify or dampen the intensity and the duration of positive emotions⁵), and subjective well-being (SWB; composed of life satisfaction and positive emotions⁷). A further objective was to investigate the participants' experience in following the online intervention.

Regarding this controlled study, Dr. Pesce stated: “The entire project was designed and developed exclusively online to safely reach emerging adults during the current COVID-19 pandemic and we enrolled 55 Italian participants aged between 18 and 30. The control group did not perform any activity, while the experimental condition consisted in two online savoring exercises per week for three weeks, reaching six total activities.”

Moreover, Dr. Scuzzarella specified: “Each exercise took about 10 minutes to complete and in the first week, the activities were focused on savor through positive reminiscence, in the second week on savor the present moment and in the third week on savor through the anticipation of an imminent positive event. Participants could access the online platform through a personal username and password and the exercises were gradually unlocked.”

Repeated-measures analysis of variance showed a significant increase in savoring beliefs in the experimental group. Savoring through anticipation and savoring the present moment significantly increased in the experimental group compared to the control group. Moreover, savoring strategies showed a tendency to a significant improvement in the experimental group compared to the control group. Concerning SWB, the experimental group therefore reported a significant increase in positive emotions compared to the control group. In addition, the overall impression of the online platform, its organization, and its perceived easiness of use were very positively evaluated, and most of the participants considered the intervention useful.

Savoring Using Advanced Technologies: The e-SaVoR Project

As we have seen, the results suggest that the Savor Project has the potential to promote savoring and SWB in the emerging adult population during the current COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, future research of the Department of Psychology of the Catholic University of Milan aims to integrate virtual reality (VR) into this intervention protocol (the e-SaVoR Project). Through the manipulation of flow, the sense of presence, and emotional engagement,⁸ virtual scenarios can promote individuals' personal efficacy and self-reflectiveness.

By taking advantage of this integration, savoring exercises will be used to promote further reflection and appreciation of the positive emotions generated in metaphorical VR experiences provided by Become-Hub. According to Dr. Luca Bernardelli, psychologist, CEO of Become-Hub, and Head of the Innovation Desk of the Order of Psychologists of Lombardy, “thanks to virtual experiences, participants can overcome several obstacles that can represent difficulties they have encountered in life related to the pandemic. Because of these elements, participants can immerse themselves and observe a certain scene from other points of view. Consequently, they can reflect on their own resources and acquire new knowledge about themselves.”

Through savoring, it is also possible to amplify the positive effects of virtual experiences, allowing the creation of positive memories to be recalled in the future and the prefiguration of future positive events (savoring though positive reminiscence and anticipation). As a result, the integration of savoring and VR will allow emerging adults to acquire new strategies to counteract the negative psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and consequently, they will experience positive personal change and transformative experiences.

References

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