"The need to effectively fight against work-related stress and anxiety, especially due to the COVID-19 outbreak, is crucial. Employees have been faced with two options: adapting to the online environment or risking contagion in public locations ? both stressful conditions. Therefore, recovery actions were requested by organizations. To understand recovery processes, refer to the Effort-Recovery Model and the Theory of Conservation of Resources. According to the literature, one should not be excessively exposed to work demands, but, conversely, acquire new resources, including personal ones, to recover those that have been lost. Recovery processes can be initiated through what we call recovery experiences. In recent years, literature and practice have been enriched with contributions about the use of virtual reality (VR) as a tool for combating anxiety disorders, reducing stress, and developing soft skills. VR proposes a technology that allows people to be immersed in a virtual environment and to interact with different stimuli: it can be used in combination with psychology techniques to improve health and well-being. A four-step protocol, based on VR, was proposed to a small private company to improve health and performance by learning specific recovery techniques; the protocol aimed to reduce the levels of work-related stress and anxiety, in addition to enhancing personal resources such as resilience, stress management, and self-efficacy. The participants were the employees and managers of the company (N = 14) who were administered a four-week training protocol comprising four one-hour VR-based sessions. Two sessions (the first and the third) focused on body consciousness, while the other two were psychological techniques (“Virtual Three Good Things” and “Best Possible Self”). The obtained data showed a decrease in anxiety and stress and an improvement in personal resources. Data also showed greater effectiveness of the VR-based protocol compared to similar interventions conducted without VR. Qualitative observation is relevant as it shows a great emotional impact of the VR-based protocol, as well as a high perception of efficacy. The limitations of the study are primarily related to the number of participants: further restrictions due to a regional worsening of the pandemic made an intermission necessary. Agreements are already in place with the parent company to encorauge more applications. The objectives and the protocol can be a useful contribution to support employees in managing stress. VR technology can greatly help psychologists to be effective in organizations."
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