Impact of a Virtual Reality-based Mindfulness Program on Clinician Wellness

NCT ID: NCT06246539

Last Updated: 2025-09-18

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 32 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2026-01-01
• Study Completion Date: 2028-07-31

Brief Summary

Burnout shares symptoms with anxiety and depression. While there is no single intervention for burnout, there are validated interventions (which are amenable to virtual reality (VR)) for anxiety and depression. UMassMemorial data from the Professional Well-Being Academic Consortium show that MD burnout and distress has increased since 2020. The investigators believe providing clinicians with a unique tool (VR) will be a feasible and efficacious way to tackle distress. It is known that only 1% of our MDs have done mindfulness training but nearly 50% are interested in doing so. Therefore, a self-administrable, interactive mindfulness program delivered over VR has great potential to reach clinicians who want to practice a more active form of mindfulness at a time convenient to them. The results of the study will provide preliminary evidence to determine if a take-home VR mindfulness program decreases clinician stress.

Detailed Description

Cohorts 1 will be the intervention group Cohorts 2 will be the controls. Study endpoints include results from the following questionnaires:

1. PROMIS - Short Form Anxiety (8 questions)

2. PROMIS - Short Form Depression (8 questions)

3. Perceived Stress Scale (10 questions)

4. Connor-Davidson Brief Resilience Scale (10 questions)

5. System Usability Scale (10 questions)

The intervention is a 12-week mindfulness-based VR intervention.

Cohort 1 will complete the questionnaires 1-4 at baseline (just before the intervention). They will be sent twice weekly reminders to use the VR for the duration of the 12-week intervention. After 12 weeks Cohort 1 will retake questionnaires 1-4 and take questionnaire 5, while Cohort 2 will then take questionnaires 1-4 and be provided the VR headsets. After another 12 weeks, Cohort 1 will take questionnaires 1-4 and be done with the study, while Cohort 2 will take questionnaires 1-5. After 12 more weeks, Cohort 2 will take questionnaires 1-4 and be done with the study.

Conditions

Wellness, Psychological

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Intervention - VR Mindfulness

The intervention group will be given the VR headset for their unrestricted use over the 12 week intervention period. The VR headset is exceptionally easy and intuitive to use. Each participant will have the choice of 20 "locations" in which to use the mindfulness-based program. Each of the 20 locations/programs are different. They range in length from 5 minutes (introductory) to 20 minutes.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

VR mindfulness

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

VR-based mindfulness

Control

The control arm will not have any intervention. However, at the conclusion of the study, all participants from the Control group will be given the VR intervention

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

VR mindfulness

VR-based mindfulness

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• physician or APP employed by the Medical Group

Exclusion Criteria

• Not willing to receive 2 texts per week

• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University of Massachusetts, Worcester

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Steven Bird

Professor of Emergency Medicine

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Steven Bird, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Massachusetts, Worcester

Locations

UMassMemorial Health Care

Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Steven Bird, MD

Role: CONTACT

steven.bird@umassmemorial.org

508-421-1422

Other Identifiers

00001606

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id