Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and interaction, which can have significant impacts on daily life, education, and work. Limited performance in learning and working, as well as exclusion from social activities, are common challenges faced by individuals with ASD. Virtual reality (VR) technology has emerged as a promising medium for delivering interventions for ASD. To address five major research questions and understand the latest trends and challenges in this area, a systematic review of 21 journal articles published between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2022 was conducted using the PRISMA approach. A meta-analysis of 15 articles was further conducted to assess interventional effectiveness. The results showed that most studies focused on social and affective skill training and relied on existing theories and practices with limited adaptations for VR. Furthermore, the enabling technologies’ affordances for the interventional needs of individuals with ASD were not thoroughly investigated. We suggest that future studies should propose and design interventions with solid theoretical foundations, explore more interventional areas besides social and affective skill training, and employ more rigorous experimental designs to investigate the effectiveness of VR-enabled ASD interventions.

This study examines how different ways of presenting information about the ecological threats stemming from the use of disposable plastics may affect people’s willingness to reduce their use. To test our hypotheses, we used a 2 × 3 × 2 between-subjects experimental design, utilizing a sample of 1001 Hong Kong residents. The independent variables tested included: (a) message frame (gain vs. loss), (b) modality (text vs. image vs. infographic), and (c) information source (government vs. non-governmental organization). The findings demonstrate that the loss frame was more effective than the gain frame in persuading participants to reduce the use of disposable plastics. Furthermore, compared to image-based messages, text-based and infographic-based messages were more effective in promoting the reduction in the use of disposable plastics. For information sources, however, we found no main effect on behavioral intentions. However, this study still suggests an interaction effect of the loss frame and NGO source, as well as the interaction between text-based modality and government source, both leading to more positive outcomes. Furthermore, the study reveals that negative emotional responses mediate the effect of media frames on behavioral intentions. The findings offer useful insights for designing more effective communication campaigns aimed at curbing the use of disposable plastics.

This study examines the effects of political/cultural beliefs and situational perceptions on public support for government surveillance amidst COVID-19, using a representative survey conducted in Hong Kong. Our results indicate that situational responses (i.e. privacy trust and self-efficacy) balance against each other in mediating the effects of political/cultural beliefs (i.e. political trust, political efficacy, democratic-individualism) and situational perceptions (i.e. perceived cost and benefit of disclosure, perceived threat of COVID-19) on surveillance support. Both perceived benefit of disclosure and political trust positively affects surveillance support indirectly by promoting the contributing mediator privacy trust while suppressing the inhibiting mediator privacy self-efficacy. Perceived cost of disclosure shows no direct effect, but a positive indirect effect on surveillance support by suppressing privacy self-efficacy; perceived threat shows a positive direct effect while a negative indirect effect by suppressing privacy trust. Internal political efficacy shows a strong negative direct effect, but no indirect effect; and external political efficacy shows a negative indirect effect by promoting privacy self-efficacy. Alternative media use, as a proxy for democratic-individualism, mitigates situational perceptions’ effects on surveillance support, regardless of the directions. The findings advance our understanding of the formation process of public opinion on government surveillance.