Virtual Reality Relaxation for Reducing Perceived Stress of Intensive Care Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic ICU nurses endure high levels of stress. VR relaxation (VRelax, containing 360° immersive environments) provides an easy-to-use and effective means to induce positive affect and reduce perceived stress. We investigated feasibility and immediate effect on perceived stress of VRelax use by ICU nurses during work shifts. ICU nurses working with COVID-19 patients in an academic hospital could use VRelax as a 10-min break during their shift. Primary outcome was the difference between perceived stress immediately before and after VRelax use measured by a single-question VAS-stress scale. Statistically significant difference of the mean VAS-stress before and after use was determined using the paired t student test. A socio-demographic questionnaire, a questionnaire on perceived stress and stress resilience and VRelax user experiences were sent by email. Eighty-six (26%) nurses used VRelax at least once; 77% (N=66) of these filled out the VAS-stress scale before and after use of VRelax. Mean perceived stress lowered with 39.9% after use of VRelax (mean difference=14.0, SD=13.3, p<0.005). Mean score on the perceived stress scale-10 was 11.4 (SD=6.50), mean score on the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10 was 29.0 (SD=5.51). Sixty-two percentage of the ICU nurses thought VRelax was helpful to reduce stress. Main barrier for use was a high workload. It is feasible for nurses to use VRelax in an ICU context. VRelax is an effective intervention to reduce immediate perceived stress and is of added value in stressful situations as during the COVID-19 pandemic, inducing a positive affective state and lowering perceived stress.

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

“…In terms of format and content, the brief home-based VR training proposed in this study has many advantages over other VR-based interventions previously tested for managing stress and anxiety of healthcare workers [ 58 , 59 ]. First of all, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to propose the use of VR at home and not in a hospital or laboratory.…”

“…Interestingly, recent studies investigated the use of VR for diminishing stress and anxiety among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. VRelax (i.e., 360° videos of calming natural environments watched via an HMD) effectively reduced stress and induced positive emotions in a sample of ICU nurses [ 58 ]. Besides, Tranquil Cinematic-VR simulation (i.e., a 3-min 360° immersive video of a nature scene) lowered stress among frontline healthcare workers in COVID-19 treatment units [ 59 ].…”

“…Although these findings are promising, significant limitations could impact the efficacy and the adoption of the VR interventions proposed in these studies. The first one is related to their location (i.e., research lab and hospitals) [ 58 , 59 ]. Healthcare workers may be unable or reluctant to participate in face-to-face sessions to use VR, especially at times of crisis, primarily due to workload and variable schedules [ 60 ].…”

“…Thanks to this fact, home-based VR programs represent new promising interventions for remote psychological support [ 61 – 63 ], including relaxation training [ 64 , 65 ]. The second main limitation of VR interventions tested by previous studies is related to their content [ 58 , 59 ]. Such programs have only used VR for relaxation [ 58 , 59 ], while none has also included psychoeducational VR experiences.…”

“…The second main limitation of VR interventions tested by previous studies is related to their content [ 58 , 59 ]. Such programs have only used VR for relaxation [ 58 , 59 ], while none has also included psychoeducational VR experiences. However, psychoeducation is considered the first step intervention for managing stress and anxiety, with benefits for reducing the intensity of these conditions [ 66 , 67 ].…”