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

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.

Abstract licence: CC BY

1. 3.

   Long-term Psychological and Occupational Effects of Providing Hospital Healthcare during SARS Outbreak · 2006

2. 8.

   How does burnout affect physician productivity? A systematic literature review · 2014

3. 15.

   A methodological review of resilience measurement scales · 2011

4. 25.

   Presence and Cybersickness in Virtual Reality Are Negatively Related: A Review · 2019

5. 30.
   Corrected

   Burnout and psychological distress amongst Australian healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic · 2020

6. 34.

   A rapid review of the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of healthcare workers: implications for supporting psychological well-being · 2021

30 more references, whose wording the paper’s licence keeps private.

• Virtual and augmented reality in critical care medicine: the patient’s, clinician’s, and researcher’s perspective · 2022

A person counts once a day per paper. We keep no cookie and no address: a reader is a hash that changes every day. Any month under five reads shows no number.