Meditation in an academic medical institution to improve student mental health: a pilot study

Introduction: : Anxiety is common among graduate and professional students. Meditation has been shown to reduce anxiety symptoms, and virtual reality (VR)-guided meditation has emerged as a more immersive approach that may increase engagement. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility, adherence, and preliminary anxiety outcomes associated with VR-guided and audio-guided meditation among health professions students.

Methods: Feasibility was assessed using recruitment, enrollment, retention, assessment completion, intervention delivery, and attendance-data capture. Adherence was defined as the number of QR-code-recorded meditation-session attendances during the 8-week intervention. Anxiety outcomes were assessed using the GAD-7. Within-group changes were examined using paired t tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, and between-group differences in change scores were explored with an independent-samples t test. Spearman correlation analysis examined the association between attendance and reduction in anxiety.

Results: Thirty-five students were assessed for eligibility, 22 were randomized, and all completed the intervention and post-intervention assessment. Both modalities were delivered as planned, and 226 session attendances were recorded. Participants in the VR condition completed a mean of 12.00 recorded sessions (SD = 5.42; range, 1–17), corresponding to 75.0% of the prescribed minimum, whereas participants in the audio-guided condition completed a mean of 8.55 sessions (SD = 5.22; range, 1–18), corresponding to 53.4% of the prescribed minimum. GAD-7 scores decreased significantly within both groups. A linear mixed-effects model demonstrated a significant main effect of time ( z = 6.80, p < .001) but no significant Condition×Time interaction ( z = −0.28, p = .783). Consistent with this finding, the difference in change scores between groups was not significant, t(20) = 0.27, p = .786, Cohen's d = 0.12. Recorded attendance was not associated with improvement in GAD-7 scores.

Conclusion: Both meditation modalities were successfully implemented, and all participants completed the study. Recorded attendance was greater in the VR condition; however, adherence varied substantially, and attendance was measured through check-in records only. Anxiety symptoms decreased in both groups, but the absence of a control group and small pilot sample preclude conclusions regarding efficacy or equivalence.