Immersive Virtual Reality for the Management of Anxiety Among Nurses

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

virtual reality: Since 2024, the investigators have offered hypnotic VR sessions to nurses at the Clinique du Pont de Chaume to better manage their anxiety. Despite the high satisfaction rate reported in our questionnaires, the investigators now aim to statistically evaluate the efficacy of this intervention. Ultimately, these results could justify a broader investment in this type of equipment, making it available to a larger number of healthcare professionals (orderlies, nursing assistants, secretaries, pharmacists, physicians, etc.), but only if this complementary intervention demonstrates scientific efficacy.

Study summary

The nursing profession is recognized as one of the most demanding in the healthcare sector. Constant exposure to illness, suffering, and death, combined with an increasing workload, leads to fatigue, stress, and especially persistent anxiety. This anxiety affects not only the psychological and physical health of nurses but also the quality of care provided. From an organizational perspective, anxiety promotes absenteeism, demotivation, and turnover, creating a vicious cycle of collective exhaustion.

To relieve their anxiety, an increasing number of healthcare providers are turning to complementary medicine, particularly immersive virtual reality (VR) interventions.

Immersive VR hypnosis has been used for several years as a non-pharmacological approach to anxiety management. It constitutes a relational experience engaging both physiological and psychological mechanisms, allowing the user to improve their experience and reduce or even eliminate anxiety.

Randomized clinical trials conducted in recent years have evaluated the efficacy of immersive VR hypnosis. Some results indicate that it reduces anxiety more significantly than pharmacological treatments in control groups and is at least as effective as other complementary therapies (relaxation, massage, acupuncture, yoga, etc.). However, the strength of these conclusions remains limited due to a substantial risk of methodological bias. Rigorous new studies, with strict control conditions, are required, particularly regarding the efficacy of hypnosis applied to nurses.

Since 2024, the investigators have offered hypnotic VR sessions to nurses at the Clinique du Pont de Chaume to better manage their anxiety. Despite the high satisfaction rate reported in our questionnaires, the investigators now aim to statistically evaluate the efficacy of this intervention. Ultimately, these results could justify a broader investment in this type of equipment, making it available to a larger number of healthcare professionals but only if this complementary intervention demonstrates scientific efficacy.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Change in the Spielberger questionnaire measurement — From enrollement to the end of study at 1 day
  To evaluate the efficacy of hypnotic immersive VR in changing anxiety among day-shift nurses before and after a coffee break. Anxiety will be measured with the Spielberger anxiety score, measured between the beginning and the end of hypnotic immersive VR or between the beginning and the end of the coffee break or

Trial sites (1)

Other trials for the same condition