Özet:

Virtual client applications created with technology are seen to have been used in recent years in various health disciplines as an alternative to traditional practice and training methods. Even more recently, they have become a topic in the field of mental health. This study aims to systematically examine the empirical studies in the literature to get a clearer picture of the virtual client applications that are specific to the mental health field but have yet to become widespread. To broaden the scope of the search, the Web of Science and Scopus databases were scanned according to the search terms created using the relevant keywords. The study has systematically reviewed 16 empirical studies on virtual simulations in the field of psychology and psychiatry education in line with the inclusion criteria. The findings have been evaluated within the scope of the scientific studies’ aims, the characteristics of the virtual applications used in these studies, the measurement tools used for evaluating the studies, and finally the results from these studies. As a result of the findings from this review, virtual client applications were seen to have been developed with various designs and technical features. When examining the measurement methods used according to the aims of the studies, the methods were found to differ from one another. When considering the findings from these studies, studies measuring users’ experiences with virtual client applications indicated the participants to have predominantly evaluated the virtual client applications positively. In addition, these studies indicated the virtual client applications to have improved various aspects of the participants, such as their psychopathological assessment skills, empathic communication skills, and interviewer self-efficacies. However, some problems were experienced during the applications, and feedback was found on how to improve the applications. In this context, the use of virtual client applications as a safe and supportive tool for gaining experience in psychological interview training can be concluded as promising. Still, when considering the limitations of the current studies, more experimental studies are needed that take different methods into account in terms of both virtual client design and research design in order to be able to use technology for psychological interview training more effectively and successfully and for understanding the effectiveness of the proposed applications more comprehensively.

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