360° Beach Meditation & VR boost Healthcare Worker Well-being

KEYWORDS - Virtual Reality | VR Meditation | Healthcare Workers | Neurofeedback | Mental Health | Anger | Tension | Depression | Fatigue | Confusion | Calmness | Happiness

Reviewed Study: A Feasibility Test of a Brief Mobile Virtual Reality Meditation for Frontline Healthcare Workers in a Hospital Setting

ABSTRACT

This scientific study compared the effects of a virtual reality plus neurofeedback (VR+NF) meditation experience to a standard audio-only guided meditation in improving the mood of 100 healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were assigned to either the VR+NF or audio-only condition and completed mood assessments before and after the meditation. Both groups experienced significant decreases in anger, tension, and depression after the meditation. Additionally, the VR+NF group showed significant increases in calmness and happiness, which did not change significantly in the audio-only group. The VR+NF group also showed significant decreases in fatigue and confusion, while the audio-only group showed no significant change in these measures.

 

INTRODUCTION

Mental health and well-being are crucial for overall health, and meditation has been shown to have a positive impact on mood states. However, traditional meditation practices can be challenging to implement in clinical healthcare environments. To address this issue, researchers have explored the use of virtual reality (VR) as a tool for delivering meditation interventions. The paper by Tarrant et al. examines the effectiveness of a virtual reality plus neurofeedback (VR+NF) meditation experience in improving mood in healthcare workers. The study compares the VR+NF meditation experience to a standard guided audio-only meditation to determine whether virtual reality meditation is a viable stress-management approach for healthcare workers.

 

METHODS

100 healthcare workers from a single hospital were recruited for the study. Participants had to be over 18 years of age and have no history of neurological or psychiatric disorders. Participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (VR+NF meditation) or the control group (audio-only meditation). The VR+NF meditation group received a VR-enhanced 10-minute guided meditation session using a Healium Oculus Go Virtual Reality Headset that used the Atmosphaeres 360-degree video ‘Wineglass Bay Beach’ and provided real-time neurofeedback through a BrainLink Lite EEG headband. The control group received a 10-minute, audio-only guided meditation session. Both groups completed the Brunel Mood Scale before and after the meditation session to assess changes in mood. A demographic questionnaire was also administered to collect information related to participants' sex, age, race, education level, experience with meditative practices, and history of mental illness. Data were analyzed to compare changes in mood between the experimental and control groups.

 

RESULTS

The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a virtual reality plus neurofeedback (VR+NF) meditation experience in improving mood in healthcare workers. Results indicated that both the VR+NF and audio-only groups showed a similar and significant decrease in anger, tension, and depression. However, the VR+NF group showed significant increases on the calmness and happiness scales, which did not change significantly in the audio-only group. On scales measuring vigor, fatigue, and confusion, the VR+NF group showed decreases, while the audio-only group showed no significant change. These findings suggest that the addition of VR and neurofeedback may increase the positive outcomes associated with standard audio-guided meditation. The increased benefits may be due to the sense of presence intrinsic to VR, the inclusion of nature-based scenes in the VR experience, as well as the increased self-awareness created by the addition of neurofeedback. Further studies assessing the longer-term changes are needed as the pre and post measures took place within one 50-min session.

 

DISCUSSION

The results of this study suggest that the addition of VR and neurofeedback to standard audio-guided meditation may increase the positive outcomes associated with meditation. The VR+NF group showed significant increases in Calmness and Happiness, which did not change significantly in the audio-only group. The inclusion of nature-based scenes in the VR experience and the increased self-awareness created by the addition of neurofeedback may have contributed to the increased benefits. Overall, this study provides support for the use of VR and neurofeedback in meditation interventions for improving the mood of frontline healthcare workers. These interventions may offer a convenient and effective way to support the mental health needs of healthcare workers during times of high stress and demand. Further studies assessing the longer-term changes are needed.

 

Sphaeres VR Experiences are used by hospitals, healthcare organizations, wellness app developers and many. The meditations have also found application in the transportation industry, where they are used in airplanes, on buses, and in waiting areas such as airport lounges and doctor’s offices. Patient and user feedback is very positive and more details about different business applications for Sphaeres VR Experiences are available here.

 

360° VIDEOS AND VR EXPERIENCES FOR YOUR USERS

If you want to provide your audience with 360° Videos and VR Experiences that are proven to reduce stress, provide relaxation and restore attention, you can find a large collection of over 450 individual 360° nature and travel scenes here and 22 edited VR Experiences here. If you have any questions or would like review samples of any of our videos, please contact us.

 

ACADEMIA & NON-PROFIT

For registered research organizations that want to further investigate the effectiveness of 360° videos to reduce stress as well as increase relaxation and improve mood of VR users we offer a 30% academic discount on top of all volume discounts for the royalty-free 360 stock videos. Our Sphaeres VR Experiences are free to use in their original, unaltered form for all non-commercial, strictly academic research. If you have any questions about the 360 video license conditions or would like review samples of any of our 360 stock videos or VR Experiences, please contact us.

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Citation: Tarrant J, Jackson R and Viczko J (2022) A Feasibility Test of a Brief Mobile Virtual Reality Meditation for Frontline Healthcare Workers in a Hospital Setting. Front. Virtual Real. 3:764745. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2022.764745

Conflict of Interest Declaration: While this study used one or more of Atmosphaeres’ 360 VR Experiences or stock videos, the study was conducted fully independently by the study authors and without any involvement of the video creators Eric & Susanne Fassbender (Atmosphaeres).

Disclaimer: This summary was created with the help of AI writing tools. The content may therefore not always be entirely accurate. We assume no responsibility for any false or incorrect information provided in this article. It is essential to independently verify the content in the original publication which is linked in the citation section above.

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