The effects of pretraining intervention in immersive embodied virtual reality cardiopulmonary resuscitation training

Providing preparatory information is a pretraining intervention method suitable for high cognitive loads and high-pressure training environments and can significantly improve training effects. In this study, we investigated the impact of the media immersion level and pretraining intervention on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training. We conducted a 2 [immersive embodied virtual reality (IEVR) vs. video] by 2 [pretraining intervention vs. no pretraining intervention] between-subject randomised experiment in Yixin, China. The results demonstrated that regardless of the media immersion level, embodied training combined with body movements is effective in improving self-efficacy, knowledge retention, and skill transfer. Although the subjects’ self-efficacy and CPR knowledge were significantly improved after training, the media level did not significantly improve knowledge retention and self-efficacy. Our study suggested that the media immersion level and pretraining intervention strategy have a significant interaction effect on the level of skill transfer. Moreover, the pretraining intervention promoted skills transfer in IEVR training but did not have a similar effect on video embodied training. These results indicate that incorporating a pretraining intervention by providing preparatory information can enhance the learning outcomes in IEVR training.