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.
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
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
32
VR-based mindfulness
UMassMemorial Health Care
Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
PROMIS - anxiety
PROMIS Short Form - anxiety scale. Scores of 8-40; Higher is a worse outcome.
Time frame: 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.
Time frame: 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.
Time frame: 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.
Time frame: 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.
Time frame: 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.
Time frame: 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.
Time frame: 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.
Stress scale
Perceived Stress Score. Scores of 0-40; Higher score is worse.
Time frame: 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.
Time frame: after 12 weeks we will dertermine the usability of the VR intervention in the intervention group
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