Psychological outcomes and intention to use following an 8-week virtual reality tennis training programme: a randomised controlled trial with exploratory mediation analysis

Virtual reality (VR) provides an immersive format for sports training, but psychological responses associated with continued use of the technology remain incompletely understood. This study compared changes in self-efficacy, flow experience, embodied cognition, and intention to use following VR versus traditional tennis training and explored indirect associations through the three psychological variables. In a parallel-group randomised controlled trial (NCT07356427), 180 Physical Education and Sports Science students with at least two semesters of tennis training experience were assigned to VR training ( n = 90) or traditional training ( n = 90). The intervention comprised 16 sessions over 8 weeks using PICO 4 headsets. Primary analyses used complete cases with pre- and post-intervention data ( n = 153). Group × Time interactions were assessed using mixed ANOVA, and exploratory parallel multiple mediation was examined using PROCESS Model 4 with 5,000 bootstrap resamples and adjustment for baseline values. Group × Time interactions were statistically significant for all four outcomes ( p ≤ .006). Compared with traditional training, VR training was associated with greater pre-to-post changes in self-efficacy (g = 0.93, 95% CI [0.59, 1.26]), embodied cognition (g = 0.67, 95% CI [0.35, 1.00]), intention to use (g = 0.61, 95% CI [0.29, 0.94]), and flow experience (g = 0.45, 95% CI [0.13, 0.77]). Indirect associations through self-efficacy (indirect effect = 0.100, 95% CI [0.033, 0.183]) and flow experience (indirect effect = 0.078, 95% CI [0.018, 0.164]) were statistically distinguishable from zero; the indirect association through embodied cognition was not. Among participants with complete data, VR tennis training was associated with greater improvements in self-reported psychological outcomes and intention to use than traditional training. The concurrent mediation findings are exploratory and do not establish temporal or causal pathways. Because no objective measures of tennis skill, motor learning, or competitive performance were included, the findings should not be interpreted as evidence of improved athletic performance. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07356427 (registered on 20 January 2026 see registration note). The trial was retrospectively registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT07356427) on 20 January 2026, after completion of participant enrolment and the intervention but before completion of data analysis and manuscript preparation. The registration record is available at: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07356427.