VR headsets boost focus for ADHD students in new study
NCT ID NCT06454604
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study tested whether a virtual reality (VR) program can help young adults aged 18-25 with ADHD concentrate better while studying or doing homework. Sixty participants used a VR headset, with some also receiving real-time feedback on their focus levels. The goal was to see if VR improves attention and makes studying more enjoyable, measured by self-reports and computer activity.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Phase 3
Large-scale testing in a bigger group. Usually the last step before a treatment can be approved.
- Participants
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60 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
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Sep 2024
- Finished
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Jul 2025
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 25 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
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Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * To be included, participants must meet DSM-5 criteria for ADHD and be between the ages of 18 and 25. Given high rates of comorbidities in college students with ADHD, participants who meet criteria for ODD, anxiety or depressive disorders on the diagnostic interview are not excluded. In addition, participants must have an item mean score of \>2.0 (often or very often) on the homework task specific version of the Adult Concentration Index (ACI), ensuring the presence of a problem in the mechanism being targeted in this study. The participant has to endorse a total of at least 5 symptoms in the ADHD inattention domain as currently present and impairing and at least 6 symptoms in the ADHD inattention domain as present and impairing during childhood. To rule out exclusionary conditions and/or to assess for the presence of comorbid conditions, psychological functioning will be assessed using the DSM-5 version of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID-5-RV) Exclusion Criteria: * Whether primary or not, the comorbid presence of several other conditions will be exclusionary. This includes autism spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, active substance abuse, and other psychiatric conditions whose treatment precludes participation in the study. Students who do not meet criteria for ADHD or who are not in the specified age range are also not eligible to participate. Students with a history of seizures are not eligible to participate given the use of VR.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70802, United States
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Rutgers University - New Brunswick
New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08854, United States
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