Abstract

LifeSwapp is a virtual reality application that was designed to foster empathy by allowing users to experience everyday situations faced by individuals with physical or social limitations. The project followed an iterative, user-centered design methodology, addressing usability issues such as spatial disorientation, interface complexity, and cognitive load through four successive prototypes. To assess improvements in user experience, both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied, including task success rates, presence scores, and real-time verbal feedback using the think-aloud technique.Additionally, a quasi-experimental study involving 60 participants was conducted to compare the attitudinal effects of the immersive experience with those of a traditional audiovisual intervention using the ATDP scale. While the study did not show a large attitudinal impact compared to the traditional intervention, it demonstrated that the effects achieved through virtual reality were sustained and even increased over time, highlighting the potential of immersive technologies to foster long-term attitudinal change and empathy. © 2025 IEEE.