Virtual Reality for Enhancing Self Compassion and Reducing Burnout Among Healthcare Providers (VR-CF-CBT)

June 18, 2026 updated by: Wael Al-Delaimy, University of California, San Diego

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.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

52

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

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

Exclusion Criteria:

  • 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)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Virtual Reality enhanced Compassion Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
This arm will receive a fixed number of immersive compassion focused cognitive behavioral therapy sessions delivered via virtual reality headsets.
Behavioral: 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.
Other Names:
  • Virtual Reality
  • CF-CBT
Placebo Comparator: Control Group
This arm will receive compassion focused cognitive behavioral therapy delivered via psychoeducational booklets.
Behavioral: 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
Other Names:
  • Control

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Self-compassion
Time Frame: Baseline assessment (T0), Post-Intervention assessment (T1), and 6 weeks post-intervention assessment (T2)
Self-compassion will be assessed using the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), as it reflects a core therapeutic target of the CF-CBT-based techniques
Baseline assessment (T0), Post-Intervention assessment (T1), and 6 weeks post-intervention assessment (T2)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Burnout
Time Frame: Baseline assessment (T0), Post-intervention assessment (T1), 6 weeks post-intervention (T2)
Burnout will be assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)
Baseline assessment (T0), Post-intervention assessment (T1), 6 weeks post-intervention (T2)
Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS)
Time Frame: Baseline assessment (T0), Post-intervention assessment (T1), 6 weeks post-intervention (T2)
Vicarious (secondary) trauma will be assessed using Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS) with ProQOL-STS subscale, both of which are validated tools in healthcare settings, especially for providers exposed to chronic occupational stress and trauma
Baseline assessment (T0), Post-intervention assessment (T1), 6 weeks post-intervention (T2)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of California, San Diego

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Wael Al-Delaimy, PhD, MD, University of California, San Diego
  • Study Chair: Andre Faro, PhD, Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

July 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

October 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

February 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 18, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 18, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 24, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 24, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 18, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 814637

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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