Evaluation of a Virtual Reality Educational Program for Mindfulness and Emotional Management for Healthcare Professionals
José Ferrer Costa, Nuria Moran, Carlos Garcia Marti, Leomar Colmenares, Florin Radu Ciorba Ciorba, María José Ciudad
Research Square September 1, 2023 preprint DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3251762/v1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Pre-post intervention study |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 86 |
| Population | Healthcare professionals from two primary care centers and a palliative care team |
| Duration | 8-week program with weekly 10-15 minute sessions; pre- and post-intervention assessments |
| Measures | Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key points | The authors report that an 8-week VR program teaching mindfulness and emotional management was followed by significant reductions in emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and increases in personal accomplishment, vigor, dedication, and absorption among 86 healthcare professionals, with those reporting high baseline work-related stress benefiting most. They conclude VR may be a useful medium for delivering such education to alleviate burnout, while calling for more rigorous future designs. |
Abstract
Abstract Objective The main objective was to evaluate the impact of an 8-week virtual reality (VR) based educational program teaching mindfulness and emotional management techniques to healthcare professionals.
Methods: Eighty-six healthcare professionals from two primary care centers and a palliative care team engaged in weekly 10-15 minute VR educational sessions. The sessions focused on teaching mindfulness techniques and emotional management tools. Burnout and work engagement levels were assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) pre- and post-intervention.
Results: Post-intervention data analysis revealed statistically significant reductions in emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, as well as enhancements in personal accomplishment, vigor, dedication, and absorption. Notably, professionals who exhibited elevated levels of work-related stress at baseline derived the most benefit from the educational content.
Conclusions: The results emphasize the potential of employing VR as a medium to deliver educational content centered on mindfulness and emotional management, especially in the context of alleviating burnout among healthcare professionals. Such positive outcomes underscore the importance of investments in these programs, suggesting that they can contribute to superior patient outcomes and heightened service quality by reinforcing the emotional resilience of healthcare providers. To further comprehend the distinct advantages of VR in educational scenarios and ensure that all participants can avail its benefits, future research should contemplate more intricate experimental designs.
Comparable studies
Other non-randomized and open-label trials on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Relation to Quality of Life, Mood, Symptoms of Stress, and Immune Parameters in Breast and Prostate Cancer Outpatients Early-stage breast and prostate cancer patients | 2003 | Pre-post intervention study | n = 59 |
| Exploring self‐compassion and empathy in the context of mindfulness‐based stress reduction (MBSR) Community sample | 2010 | Pre-post intervention study | |
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Lowers Psychological Distress In Medical Students Second-year medical students | 2003 | Prospective nonrandomized cohort-controlled study | n = 302 |
| Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological mediators. Retreat participants and matched controls | 2011 | Controlled trial with wait-list control group | n = 60 |
| The Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training for Children with ADHD and Mindful Parenting for their Parents Children aged 8-12 with ADHD and their parents | 2011 | Within-group waitlist controlled trial | n = 22 |
Citations in the library
Cites 6
- Should Mindfulness for Health Care Workers Go Virtual? A Mindfulness-Based Intervention Using Virtual Reality and Heart Rate Variability in the Emergency Department. Workplace Health & Safety April 2023
- The Impact of Psychological Interventions with Elements of Mindfulness on Burnout and Well-Being in Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare 2023
- The effectiveness of immersive virtual reality (VR) based mindfulness training on improvement mental-health in adults: A narrative systematic review. Explore August 1, 2022
- Evaluation of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention With and Without Virtual Reality Dialectical Behavior Therapy® Mindfulness Skills Training for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Primary Care: A Pilot Study Frontiers in Psychology January 28, 2019
- A systematic review of the impact of mindfulness on the well-being of healthcare professionals. Journal of Clinical Psychology March 2018
and 1 more in the library