Brief Mindfulness Workshop With or Without Virtual Reality: A Pilot Study

N/ANot Yet RecruitingNCT07108556

The University of Hong Kong144 enrolled

Overview

The current study uses a randomized cross-over design, in which participants are exposed to brief mindfulness-based experiential sessions with and without incorporating virtual reality (i.e., the experimental and control conditions, respectively). Order of exposure to these two conditions are counter-balanced and participants are randomized into the two arms of exposure in a different order. Furthermore, this study includes the use of both subjective self-report and objective physiological measures of mental wellbeing. It is hypothesized that VR-incorporated mindfulness-based experiential session brings a greater improvement in state mindfulness, state affect, and stress response. Results shed light on the added value of incorporating VR into brief MBIs, particularly in reference to the typical practice of promoting mindfulness in the local community.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

144

Conditions

Mental Wellbeing

Interventions

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * aged 18 years or older * reads Chinese * understands Cantonese Exclusion Criteria: * history of sever motion sickness or known intolerance to VR environments * impairments that may interfere with the use of VR equipment * concurrent or past structured mindfulness training

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change in positive affect as measured by International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form (I-PANAS-SF) after a brief practice of mindfulness.

Using a 5-point Likert scale from 1 = Never to 5 = Always, individuals rate on their experience of five positive affect in the present moment. Scores are summed across 5 items, with higher scores indicating higher levels of positive affect.

Time frame: At the start of the first session (at minute 0), at the end of the first session (which is also the start of the second session; at minute 10), and at the end of the second session (at minute 20).

Change in negative affect as measured by International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form (I-PANAS-SF) after a brief practice of mindfulness.

Using a 5-point Likert scale from 1 = Never to 5 = Always, individuals rate on their experience of five negative affect in the present moment. Scores are summed across 5 items, with higher scores indicating higher levels of negative affect.

Change in state mindfulness as measured by the State Mindfulness Scale (SMS) after a brief practice of mindfulness.

Individuals rate their state mindfulness on a 5-point Likert scale across 21 items, from 1 = Not at All to 5 = Very Much. Scores are summed to represent overall mindfulness and two subfactors differentiated by objects of mindfulness - (1) mind and (2) body. Higher scores indicate higher levels of mindfulness at the moment.

Change in heart rate variability as measured with the Shimmer3 GSR+ (Galvanic Skin Response) unit after a brief practice of mindfulness.

The Shimmer3 GSR+ unit is strapped to a participant's wrist and fingers of the non-dominant hand. An optical pulse sensor is attached to the second finger to collect photoplethysmogram (PPG) signals over a 5-minute period, which are then transformed into HRV measures with artifacts corrected through automated detection using the Kubios HRV Scientific software. Higher values indicate greater heart rate variability.

Change in skin conductance level as measured with the Shimmer3 GSR+ (Galvanic Skin Response) unit after a brief practice of mindfulness.

The Shimmer3 GSR+ unit is strapped to a participant's wrist and fingers of the non-dominant hand. Two additional electrodes are attached to the third and fourth fingers of the participants' non-dominant hand to collect both phasic and tonic skin conductance data. Higher values indicate greater skin conductance.

Secondary Outcomes

Satisfaction with the intervention as measured by a single Likert item with open text entry designed specifically for this study

Participants complete a service evaluation form that includes rating on a 5-point Likert scale, from 1 - Strongly Disagree to 5 - Strongly Agree, designed specifically to assess their level of satisfaction with the intervention received in the current study. They are also asked in an open-ended way to provide narratives of their experience throughout the encounter.

Time frame: At the end of the full program (i.e., one-time assessment; at minute 20).