Empowering Women’s Mental Health In The Metaverse: The Mediating Roles Of Cyberchondria And Technophobia In Digital Healthcare Adoption
Keywords:
Metaverse, Digital Health, Women’s Mental Health, Cyberchondria, Technophobia, SPSS, AMOSAbstract
The metaverse represents an evolving frontier in digital health, offering new pathways for delivering care through immersive technologies. This research investigates the effects of metaverse-enabled digital health platforms on women’s mental well-being, focusing on how cyberchondria and technophobia alter this impact. A structured quantitative survey was conducted with female users familiar with healthcare services in the metaverse. Data analyzed through SPSS and AMOS demonstrated a positive relationship between digital healthcare usage and mental health enhancement. However, elevated levels of cyberchondria and technophobia moderated this relationship, reducing the potential benefits. These findings suggest that while metaverse healthcare expands mental health support, psychological barriers may hinder its effectiveness
Downloads
References
Riva, G., Wiederhold, B. K., & Mantovani, F. (2022). The potential of the metaverse in mental health: Opportunities and challenges. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 25(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber. 2021.29208
Ohannessian, R., Duong, T. A., & Odone, A. (2020). Global telemedicine implementation and integration within health systems to fight the COVID-19 pandemic: A call to action. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 6(2), e18810. https://doi.org/10.2196/18810
Naslund, J. A., Aschbrenner, K. A., Marsch, L. A., & Bartels, S. J. (2016). The future of mental health care: Peer-to-peer support and social media. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 25(2), 113–122. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S2045796015001067
Starcevic, V., Berle, D., Porter, G., & Fenech, P. (2013). Cyberchondria: An empirical investigation into the characteristics of excessive health-related Internet searching. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 27(2), 259–265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2013.01.007
Brosnan, M. J. (1998). Technophobia: The psychological impact of information technology. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203470112
Laato, S., Islam, A. N., Farooq, A., & Dhir, A. (2020). Unusual purchasing behavior during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: The stimulus-organism-response approach. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 57, 102224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102224
López del Hoyo, Y., Serret, S., García-Palacios, A., & Botella, C. (2024). How the metaverse could reshape mental health treatment: An opinion review. World Journal of Clinical Cases, 12(17), 2939–2947. https://www.wjgnet.com/ 2307-8960/full/v12/i17/2939.htm
Cerasa, A., Brusa, A., Quattrone, A., & Di Lorenzo, G. (2024). Exploring the use of metaverse in psychiatric disorders: New perspectives for virtual mental healthcare. Current Psychiatry Reports, 26(3), 145–157. https://doi.org/10. 1007/s11920-024-01501-8
Correia, R. B., Li, L., & Rocha, L. M. (2020). Monitoring health-related behaviors using social media: A review of current research. arXiv preprint arXiv:2001.10285. https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.10285
Rosenfeld, A., Danks, D., & Dinar, A. (2019). Artificial intelligence and mental health: The state of the art and future directions. arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.12071. https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.12071
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.