A team of professors/researchers from the Department of Public Law II leads the European project VR4REACT (Reducing Reactive Aggression through Virtual Reality). The project began in September 2022 and will last 36 months. The project is funded through the European Union's ERASMUS+ program. The consortium led by the URJC is made up of companies, universities and institutions from 7 countries: Qualify Just - IT Solutions And Consulting Lda (Portugal), University St Kliment Ohridski Bitola (North Macedonia), KMOP - Education and Innovation Hub (Greece) , National Administration of Penitentiaries (Moldova), Baia Mare Penitentiary (Romania), Polish Platform for Homeland Security (PPHS) (Poland) and the State Department of Probation (Turkey).
The main objectives of the project are the promotion of psychological, social and emotional well-being of prisoners through improved intervention with virtual reality technology, reducing the risk of incidents of reactive aggression between prison staff and prisoners by promoting a safer environment and harmonious, providing comprehensive training to prison officers, equipping them with effective strategies to handle and manage situations of reactive aggression, encouraging adaptive and prosocial behaviors among prisoners, allowing them to respond to threats, dangers, provocations or perceived frustrations of constructively, instead of resorting to aggression, anger, hostility or impulsivity and, finally, facilitate the reintegration and successful social reintegration of people serving prison sentences and who have shown tendencies towards aggressive behavior reagents.
To achieve these objectives, during the project a Virtual Reality (VR) psychoeducational intervention program will be developed and applied aimed at reducing the aggressive behaviors of inmates with a history of reactive aggression, regardless of the type of crime committed. This program consists of blended training (B-learning) that uses both a virtual reality (VR) program and an e-learning course to equip frontline prison staff with effective skills and competencies to manage reactive aggressive behaviors of the inmates. The project includes the training of more than 80 prison officers from partner countries through the VR program and the online training course. Additionally, it aims to involve more than 80 inmates with a history of reactive aggressive behaviors, using the VR-enhanced psychoeducational intervention program to address and reduce their aggression. The project is completed with the training of more than 40 prison educators or psychologists from partner countries to effectively apply the VR-enhanced psychoeducational intervention program.
The project is currently in the implementation phase. During the first phase of the same, the team formed by professors/researchers Julia Ropero Carrasco, Beatriz García Sánchez, Sandra López De Zubiría Díaz and Carlos Fernández Abad, has developed a “Theoretical framework on risky and reactive aggression and its relationship with prosocial skills”, as a basis for the subsequent design of the training contemplated by the project and that will be developed throughout 2024 and 2025.
More information: https://www.vr4react-project.com/events.html