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

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Wellness, Psychological
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: VR mindfulness

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.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 32
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Steven Bird, MD; Phone Number: 508-421-1422; Email: steven.bird@umassmemorial.org

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Worcester, Massachusetts, United States, 01655-0002
      • UMassMemorial Health Care

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• physician or APP employed by the Medical Group

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not willing to receive 2 texts per week

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: 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
Experimental: 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.	Behavioral: VR mindfulness; VR-based mindfulness

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
PROMIS - anxiety	PROMIS Short Form - anxiety scale. Scores of 8-40; Higher is a worse outcome.	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.
PROMIS - anxiety	PROMIS Short Form - anxiety scale. Scores of 8-40; Higher is a worse outcome.	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.
PROMIS - Depression	PROMIS Short Form - Depression scale. Scores of 8-40; Higher is a worse outcome.	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.
PROMIS - Depression	PROMIS Short Form - Depression scale. Scores of 8-40; Higher is a worse outcome.	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.
Resiliency	Connor-Davidson Resiliency Scale. Scores of 0-40; Higher score is better.	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.
Resiliency	Connor-Davidson Resiliency Scale. Scores of 0-40; Higher score is better.	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.
Stress scale	Perceived Stress Score. Scores of 0-40; Higher score is worse.	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.
Usability	Usability scale. Scores of 10-50; Higher score is better.	after 12 weeks we will dertermine the usability of the VR intervention in the intervention group
Stress scale	Perceived Stress Score. Scores of 0-40; Higher score is worse.	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.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Massachusetts, Worcester
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Steven Bird, MD, University of Massachusetts, Worcester

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): June 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 31, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 30, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 30, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): February 7, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 13, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 11, 2026
• Last Verified: September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Personal Satisfaction; Psychological Well-Being
• Other Study ID Numbers: 00001606

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No