Virtual Reality for Enhancing Self Compassion and Reducing Burnout Among Healthcare Providers

Обзор

Healthcare providers in high-demand clinical settings are at high risk for burnout and secondary traumatic stress due to repeated exposure to patient trauma, which can compromise well-being and quality of care. Compassion-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CF-CBT) can reduce stress and enhance self-compassion, but traditional delivery is time- and resource-intensive. This project evaluates the feasibility, acceptability, and potential effectiveness of virtual reality (VR)-enhanced CF-CBT specifically adapted for healthcare providers experiencing vicarious trauma. Grounded in Neff's self-compassion framework (emphasizing self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness) the VR intervention provides 8 immersive environments where participants can practice compassion-focused skills, engage in procedural learning, and regulate emotional responses in real time. The study will be conducted at UC San Diego Health using a two-arm randomized design comparing VR-enhanced CF-CBT with self-guided compassion-focused CBT/mindfulness exercises delivered without VR. Participants will complete 8 brief VR interventional sessions (approximately 6-10 minutes each) over 4-6 weeks. Outcomes include self-compassion, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress, measured using validated instruments. Feasibility and acceptability will be evaluated through recruitment, retention, session completion, engagement, and participant feedback. Findings will provide preliminary evidence for VR-enhanced compassion-focused interventions as a scalable and accessible approach to supporting healthcare providers' emotional well-being in demanding clinical environments, and will inform future cultural adaptation and implementation in low-resource and conflict-affected healthcare settings such as those in post-war zones.

Вмешательства

• Поведенческое Compassion focused cognitive behavioral therapy sessions delivered via virtual reality headsets
  The intervention group will undergo a fixed number of immersive compassion focused cognitive behavioral therapy sessions delivered via virtual reality headsets.
• Поведенческое Compassion focused cognitive behavioral therapy app based booklet
  This arm will receive the same order and frequency of compassion focused cognitive behavioral therapy sessions delivered via digital booklets

Первичные конечные точки

• Self-compassion [Срок оценки: Baseline assessment (T0), Post-Intervention assessment (T1), and 6 weeks post-intervention assessment (T2)]

Вторичные конечные точки (2)

• Burnout [Срок оценки: Baseline assessment (T0), Post-intervention assessment (T1), 6 weeks post-intervention (T2)]
• Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) [Срок оценки: Baseline assessment (T0), Post-intervention assessment (T1), 6 weeks post-intervention (T2)]

Критерии участия

Критерии включения

• have at least one year of experience working in a healthcare setting

Критерии исключения

• participating in other behavioral interventions that could confound study results
• auditory or visual impairments that would interfere with VR usage
• Participants who experience clinically significant VR-related discomfort/motion sickness as assessed by the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ)

Критерии приведены из реестра в оригинале (на английском). Окончательную оценку соответствия проводит исследовательский центр.

Здоровые добровольцы: Да

Дизайн исследования

Распределение

Рандомизированное

Модель

Параллельные группы

Маскирование

Открытое

Основная цель

Лечение

Центры проведения

Список центров уточняется — проверьте первичный протокол.

Идентификаторы

NCT: NCT07666867 · 814637

Первоисточники (государственные реестры)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (NIH, США)

Открыть это исследование на ClinicalTrials.gov ↗