Clinical trial NCT06246539: Impact of a Virtual Reality-based Mindfulness Program on Clinician Wellness
Official title: Impact of a Virtual Reality-based Mindfulness Program on Clinician Wellness
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Wellness, Psychological
Lead sponsor: University of Massachusetts, Worcester
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2024-02-07
Enrollment: 32
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

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.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* physician or APP employed by the Medical Group

Exclusion Criteria:

* Not willing to receive 2 texts per week

Primary outcomes:
measure: PROMIS - anxiety
timeFrame: at baseline, after 12 weeks, then after another 12 weeks. We will compare results of the intervention group at 12 and 24 weeks to their baseline.
measure: PROMIS - anxiety
timeFrame: at baseline, after 12 weeks, then after another 12 weeks. We will compare results of the control group at 12 and 24 weeks to their baseline.
measure: PROMIS - Depression
timeFrame: at baseline, after 12 weeks, then after another 12 weeks. We will compare results of the intervention group at 12 and 24 weeks to their baseline.
measure: PROMIS - Depression
timeFrame: at baseline, after 12 weeks, then after another 12 weeks. We will compare results of the control group at 12 and 24 weeks to their baseline.
measure: Resiliency
timeFrame: at baseline, after 12 weeks, then after another 12 weeks. We will compare results of the intervention group at 12 and 24 weeks to their baseline.
measure: Resiliency
timeFrame: at baseline, after 12 weeks, then after another 12 weeks. We will compare results of the control group at 12 and 24 weeks to their baseline.
measure: Stress scale
timeFrame: at baseline, after 12 weeks, then after another 12 weeks. We will compare results of the intervention group at 12 and 24 weeks to their baseline.
measure: Stress scale
timeFrame: at baseline, after 12 weeks, then after another 12 weeks. We will compare results of the control group at 12 and 24 weeks to their baseline.
measure: Usability
timeFrame: after 12 weeks we will dertermine the usability of the VR intervention in the intervention group
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Worcester
country: United States
facility: UMassMemorial Health Care
state: Massachusetts
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Massachusetts, Worcester
name: Steven Bird, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: