MIND-VR: Design and Evaluation Protocol of a Virtual Reality Psychoeducational Experience on Stress and Anxiety for the Psychological Support of Healthcare Workers Involved in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Pallavicini, Federica; Orena, Eleonora; Santo, Simona Di; Greci, Luca; Caragnano, Chiara; Ranieri, Paolo; Vuolato, Costanza; Pepe, Alessandro; Veronese, Guido; Dakanalis, Antonios; Rossini, Angelo; Caltagirone, Carlo; Clerici, Massimo; Mantovani, Fabrizia

doi:10.3389/frvir.2021.620225

Cited by 15 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 154 publications

(181 reference statements)

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“…Many VR-based treatment, and medical education and training programs are currently taking a technology approach rather than a human-centered approach, which can lead to limited impact of VR in these fields. Due to the close bond between the user and the system within virtual environments, it may be impossible to segregate human factors from design issues when striving to achieve the potential of VR [ 144 ]. For this reason, it appears critical that a psychologist with expertise in human-computer interaction always be included in the team developing virtual experiences for the medical field.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Reality Applications in Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Systematic Review

Pallavicini¹,

Pepe²,

Clerici³

et al. 2022

JMIR Serious Games

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Background Virtual reality can play an important role during the COVID-19 pandemic in the health care sector. This technology has the potential to supplement the traditional in-hospital medical training and treatment, and may increase access to training and therapies in various health care settings. Objective This systematic review aimed to describe the literature on health care–targeted virtual reality applications during the COVID-19 crisis. Methods We conducted a systematic search of the literature on the PsycINFO, Web of Science, and MEDLINE databases, according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. The search string was as follows: “[(virtual reality)] AND [(COVID-19) OR (coronavirus) OR (SARS-CoV-2) OR (healthcare)].” Papers published in English after December 2019 in peer-reviewed journals were selected and subjected to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. We used the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool to assess the quality of studies and the risk of bias. Results Thirty-nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Seventeen studies showed the usefulness of virtual reality during the COVID-19 crisis for reducing stress, anxiety, depression, and pain, and promoting physical activity. Twenty-two studies revealed that virtual reality was a helpful learning and training tool during the COVID-19 crisis in several areas, including emergency medicine, nursing, and pediatrics. This technology was also used as an educational tool for increasing public understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic. Different levels of immersion (ie, immersive and desktop virtual reality), types of head-mounted displays (ie, PC-based, mobile, and standalone), and content (ie, 360° videos and photos, virtual environments, virtual reality video games, and embodied virtual agents) have been successfully used. Virtual reality was helpful in both face-to-face and remote trials. Conclusions Virtual reality has been applied frequently in medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, with positive effects for treating several health conditions and for medical education and training. Some barriers need to be overcome for the broader adoption of virtual reality in the health care panorama. Trial Registration International Platform of Registered Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocols (INPLASY) INPLASY202190108; https://inplasy.com/inplasy-2021-9-0108/

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Reality Applications in Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Systematic Review

Pallavicini¹,

Pepe²,

Clerici³

et al. 2022

JMIR Serious Games

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…MIND-VR is a VR-based psychoeducational experience on stress and anxiety created by a team from the University of Milano-Bicocca, thanks to the funds raised through a crowdfunding campaign [ 50 ]. This virtual experience was developed in collaboration with AnotheReality between July and October 2020 using Unity Engine.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…VR is also adopted successfully to deliver biofeedback [ 46 , 47 ] and mindfulness training [ 48 , 49 ]. Furthermore, VR represents a potentially helpful tool for psychoeducation [ 50 – 52 ] that refers to interventions aimed at informing people about an illness and in a clear and articulated way, educating individuals on their disease and how to deal with it [ 53 , 54 ]. Psychoeducation is considered a key part of CBT [ 55 ] and can also be an intervention of its own [ 56 , 57 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The intervention will consist of three training sessions performed in a week. In each session, participants will try through an immersive VR standalone system (i.e., Oculus Quest 2), a virtual psychoeducation experience on stress and anxiety (i.e., MIND-VR) [ 50 ], followed by a virtual content for relaxation (i.e., The Secret Garden) [ 64 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A virtual reality home-based training for the management of stress and anxiety among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Pallavicini

Orena

Santo

et al. 2022

Trials

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Background Healthcare workers represent one of the most affected categories by the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health. Excessive stress and anxiety are critical factors that could compromise work performance. Besides, high levels of stress and anxiety may have long-term physical and psychological consequences. Recent studies investigated virtual reality to reduce stress and anxiety among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the proposed virtual reality interventions have important limitations related to their location (i.e., research lab and hospitals) and content (i.e., virtual experiences only for relaxation). Within this context, this randomized controlled trial aims to investigate the efficacy and acceptability of a brief home-based virtual reality training for managing stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 crisis in a sample of Italian healthcare workers. Methods The study is a randomized controlled trial. It includes two groups of 30 individuals recruited from healthcare workers: (1) the experimental group and (2) the control group. Participants in the experimental group will receive a training consisting of three home sessions performed in a week. In each session, participants will try through an immersive virtual reality standalone system (i.e., Oculus Quest 2) a virtual psychoeducation experience on stress and anxiety (i.e., MIND-VR). Subsequently, they will try the virtual relaxation content (i.e., The Secret Garden). The control group will receive no training and will be reassessed one week and one month after the initial evaluation. Discussion If the proposed brief home-based virtual reality training will result helpful and easy to use, it could become an empirically assessed viable option for protecting healthcare workers’ mental health both during the COVID-19 pandemic and once it will be over. Furthermore, the intervention might be easily adapted for other categories of people who need support in managing stress and anxiety. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04611399.

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“…XR virtual visits have emerged as a promising technology for stress reduction using CBT and other evidence-based telemental health approaches [ 85 , 86 ]. With the advent of telehealth, VR and AR for COVID-related stress and trauma therapies have been promoted for distribution among frontline health care workers [ 51 , 87 , 88 ]. Although these studies are ongoing, VR telehealth for posttraumatic stress among survivors of COVID-19 has shown promising effects [ 89 , 90 ], and it is reasonable to expect these effects to generalize to providers from these same environments and traumatic experiences [ 91 ].…”

Section: Xr For Telehealth During Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

Extended Reality for Enhanced Telehealth During and Beyond COVID-19: Viewpoint

Ong¹,

Wilczewski²,

Paige³

et al. 2021

JMIR Serious Games

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The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread challenges and revealed vulnerabilities across global health care systems. In response, many health care providers turned to telehealth solutions, which have been widely embraced and are likely to become standard for modern care. Immersive extended reality (XR) technologies have the potential to enhance telehealth with greater acceptability, engagement, and presence. However, numerous technical, logistic, and clinical barriers remain to the incorporation of XR technology into telehealth practice. COVID-19 may accelerate the union of XR and telehealth as researchers explore novel solutions to close social distances. In this viewpoint, we highlight research demonstrations of XR telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss future directions to make XR the next evolution of remote health care.

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MIND-VR: Design and Evaluation Protocol of a Virtual Reality Psychoeducational Experience on Stress and Anxiety for the Psychological Support of Healthcare Workers Involved in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cited by 15 publications

References 154 publications

Virtual Reality Applications in Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Systematic Review

Virtual Reality Applications in Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Systematic Review

A virtual reality home-based training for the management of stress and anxiety among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Extended Reality for Enhanced Telehealth During and Beyond COVID-19: Viewpoint

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