Burnout, Healthcare Workers, Mental Health Issue, Occupational Stress
Conditions
Keywords
Virtual Reality, Mindfulness, Healthcare workers, Burnout
Brief summary
Projecte Benestar 2026 is a multicenter randomized controlled study evaluating a brief immersive educational program delivered through virtual reality for healthcare workers. The program is designed to support emotional well-being, self-care, mindfulness, and emotional regulation in professionals working in healthcare settings. Participants will be active healthcare or healthcare-support workers from participating centers. They will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group will receive the virtual reality program at the beginning of the study, while the other group will continue usual activity and receive the same program later, after a wait-list period. The main objective is to evaluate whether the program reduces emotional exhaustion, measured with the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Secondary objectives include evaluating changes in depersonalization, personal accomplishment, work engagement, usability, satisfaction, adherence, and tolerability of the virtual reality program.
Detailed description
This is a multicenter randomized controlled trial with a delayed-start wait-list control design. The study will evaluate Projecte Benestar, an immersive educational virtual reality program designed to support emotional well-being, self-care, mindfulness, emotional regulation, and self-compassion among workers in healthcare settings. The study population will include active professionals working in participating healthcare organizations, including clinical and non-clinical staff with direct healthcare contact or support functions. Participating institutions may include primary care, hospital, and intermediate care settings. Recruitment will be conducted among eligible workers who voluntarily agree to participate and provide informed consent. Participants will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio, stratified by center, to one of two study groups. Group A will receive the intervention during the first weeks of the study. Group B will continue usual activity during the initial period and will receive the same intervention after a wait-list period of approximately 6 months. This delayed-start design allows comparison between immediate intervention and usual activity while ensuring that all participants are eventually offered the program. The intervention consists of eight brief individual virtual reality sessions delivered through autonomous virtual reality headsets. Each session lasts approximately 9 to 15 minutes and combines short educational content with guided immersive practice. The contents include mindfulness, breathing exercises, body scan practices, emotional regulation strategies, the RAIN technique, self-compassion, and a final integration session. Sessions may be delivered in a standard 8-week format with one session per week, or in an intensive 4-week format with two sessions per week, depending on local logistical capacity. The virtual reality content is fixed and non-adaptive. All participants receive the same sequence of sessions. The application does not require internet connection during use and does not collect automatic data from the device. Participants complete sessions seated in a quiet institutional space, with a local study reference person available for technical support or in case of discomfort. The primary outcome is change in emotional exhaustion measured with the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey. Secondary outcomes include the other burnout dimensions of depersonalization and personal accomplishment, work engagement measured with the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, usability measured with the System Usability Scale, participant satisfaction, adherence to the sessions, and tolerability or incidents related to virtual reality use. Data will be collected at baseline, after the first intervention cycle, at 6 months, after the delayed intervention cycle, and at 12 months. The main analysis will compare changes in outcomes between the immediate intervention group and the wait-list control group, with additional within-group pre-post analyses and follow-up assessments over time.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALProjecte Benestar Virtual Reality Educational Program
Projecte Benestar is an immersive educational virtual reality program focused on mindfulness, emotional regulation, and self-compassion for workers in healthcare settings. The program includes 8 individual sessions delivered through autonomous virtual reality headsets. Each session lasts approximately 9 to 15 minutes and includes guided audio and immersive 3D content. Sessions may be delivered over 8 weeks or in an intensive 4-week format, depending on local logistics.
Sponsors
Badalona Serveis Assistencials
Fundacio d'Investigacio en Atencio Primaria Jordi Gol i Gurina
Corporació de Salut del Maresme i la Selva
Institut Catala de Salut
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Masking description
Participants and local study staff cannot be masked because of the nature of the virtual reality intervention. Outcome data will be collected using standardized self-administered questionnaires. The outcomes assessor/statistician responsible for scoring and analyzing the primary and secondary questionnaire outcomes will be masked to group allocation until the primary analysis is completed.
Intervention model description
Multicenter randomized controlled trial with a delayed-start wait-list control design. Participants are randomized 1:1 by center to immediate intervention or delayed intervention. Group A receives the virtual reality program first, while Group B continues usual activity as a wait-list control. After the first intervention period and wait-list period, Group B receives the same intervention, while Group A remains in follow-up and may serve as a post-intervention comparison group.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Active permanent or temporary staff member at a participating healthcare center where the program is implemented * Age 18 years or older * Able to understand, accept, and sign the informed consent form * Willing to complete the study procedures, attend the planned weekly sessions, and complete the study questionnaires
Exclusion criteria
* Photosensitive epilepsy or history of seizures triggered by visual stimuli * Severe motion sickness or previous intolerance to immersive devices * Visual or hearing impairment that prevents adequate use of the virtual reality headset
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in Emotional Exhaustion Score on the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey | Baseline, approximately 4 to 8 weeks, and approximately 7 months | Emotional exhaustion will be assessed using the Emotional Exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey. The subscale includes 9 items scored from 0 to 6, with total scores ranging from 0 to 54. Higher scores indicate greater emotional exhaustion. Changes will be compared between the immediate intervention group and the wait-list control group during the first intervention period, and will also be assessed after the delayed intervention group completes the program. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in Depersonalization Score on the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey | Baseline, approximately 4 to 8 weeks, and approximately 7 months | Depersonalization will be assessed using the Depersonalization subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey. The subscale includes 5 items scored from 0 to 6, with total scores ranging from 0 to 30. Higher scores indicate greater depersonalization. |
| Change in Personal Accomplishment Score on the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey | Baseline, approximately 4 to 8 weeks, and approximately 7 months | Personal accomplishment will be assessed using the Personal Accomplishment subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey. The subscale includes 8 items scored from 0 to 6, with total scores ranging from 0 to 48. Higher scores indicate greater personal accomplishment. |
| Change in Vigor Score on the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9 | Baseline, approximately 4 to 8 weeks, and approximately 7 months | Vigor will be assessed using the Vigor dimension of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9. This dimension includes 3 items scored from 0 to 6. The dimension score will be calculated as the mean of the items, ranging from 0 to 6. Higher scores indicate greater vigor, reflecting higher energy and mental resilience at work. |
| Change in Dedication Score on the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9 | Baseline, approximately 4 to 8 weeks, and approximately 7 months | Dedication will be assessed using the Dedication dimension of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9. This dimension includes 3 items scored from 0 to 6. The dimension score will be calculated as the mean of the items, ranging from 0 to 6. Higher scores indicate greater dedication, reflecting a stronger sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and challenge at work. |
| Change in Absorption Score on the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9 | Baseline, approximately 4 to 8 weeks, and approximately 7 months | Absorption will be assessed using the Absorption dimension of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9. This dimension includes 3 items scored from 0 to 6. The dimension score will be calculated as the mean of the items, ranging from 0 to 6. Higher scores indicate greater absorption, reflecting being more fully concentrated and deeply involved in work. |
| System Usability Scale Score After the Virtual Reality Program | After completion of the intervention: approximately 4 to 8 weeks for the immediate intervention group and approximately 7 months for the delayed intervention group | Usability will be assessed using the System Usability Scale, a 10-item questionnaire that provides a global usability score ranging from 0 to 100. Higher scores indicate greater perceived usability of the virtual reality program. |
| Participant Satisfaction With the Virtual Reality Program | After completion of the intervention: approximately 4 to 8 weeks for the immediate intervention group and approximately 7 months for the delayed intervention group | Satisfaction will be assessed using 2 ad hoc visual analog scale items scored from 0 to 10. The items assess perceived usefulness of the intervention and willingness to recommend the experience to colleagues. Higher scores indicate greater satisfaction. |
| Adherence to the Virtual Reality Program | From intervention start to intervention completion, approximately 4 to 8 weeks | Adherence will be calculated as the percentage of completed virtual reality sessions out of the total planned sessions. The program includes 8 planned sessions. Higher percentages indicate greater adherence to the intervention. |
Countries
Spain
Contacts
CONTACTJosé Ferrer Costa, MD, MSc
CONTACTRosa García Sierra, RN, PhD, MSc
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORJose Ferrer Costa, MD, MSc
Badalona Serveis Assistencials - Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Outcome results
None listed