Virtual Reality for Enhancing Self-Compassion and Reducing Burnout Among Mental Health Care Professionals: Protocol for a Pilot Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial
- 1Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science University of California San Diego La Jolla, CA United States
- 2Department of Psychology Universidade Federal de Sergipe Aracaju, Sergipe Brazil
- 3Department of Psychiatry University of California, San Diego La Jolla, CA United States
Abstract
Background: Mental health care professionals working in high-demand clinical environments are frequently exposed to patient suffering and trauma, placing them at increased risk for burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Compassion-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CF-CBT) has shown promise in reducing psychological distress and enhancing self-compassion; however, traditional delivery methods may be limited by time, accessibility, and resource constraints. Virtual reality (VR) may provide an immersive and accessible approach for delivering compassion-focused interventions.
Objective: The primary objective is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a self-administered VR-enhanced CF-CBT (VR-CF-CBT) intervention for mental health care professionals. Secondary exploratory objectives are to estimate changes in self-compassion, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress (STS), as well as between-group differences that can inform the design of a future definitive trial.
Methods: A 2-arm randomized controlled pilot trial will be conducted among mental health care professionals. Participants will be randomized to either a VR-CF-CBT intervention or an active comparison condition consisting of self-guided CF-CBT delivered via digital booklets. Participants will complete 8 brief sessions (approximately 10 minutes each) over a 4- to 6-week period. Exploratory clinical outcomes will include changes in self-compassion, burnout, and STS measured using validated self-report instruments. Primary feasibility and acceptability outcomes will include recruitment, retention, intervention adherence, session completion, participant satisfaction, and scores on the Acceptability of Intervention Measure, Intervention Appropriateness Measure, and Feasibility of Intervention Measure.
Results: The study was funded in April 2026. As of October 2026, 38 participants had provided consent and enrolled. Recruitment for a second wave of participants is ongoing, and data collection is in progress. Enrollment and data collection are expected to continue through 2026, with data analysis and dissemination of findings anticipated by spring 2027.
Conclusions: This pilot study will provide information on the feasibility and acceptability of delivering CF-CBT through immersive VR to mental health care professionals. Findings will help identify whether modifications are needed before a larger trial and provide preliminary estimates to inform the design of future efficacy testing.
Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07666867; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07666867
International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/105754
Related
- Enhancing Evidence Translation Through Structured Clinical Reasoning: A Mixed-Methods Controlled Feasibility Study of Peer Visibility and Readiness Mechanisms in Applied Learning
- The Effectiveness of Web-based Self-Compassion Training on Caregiving Burden and Quality of Life of Family Caregivers of Patients with Advanced Cancer: A Study Protocol for a Single-blind, Two-arm Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial
- Efficacy of a weighted-vest aerobic dance intervention for enhancing lower extremity strength and mobility in older adults: a randomized controlled trial
- Enhancing deep sleep with auditory stimulation to boost cognitive training responsiveness in people with Parkinson's disease and mild cognitive impairment: Rationale and design of the double-blind randomized controlled trial PD-CogT-Sleep
- Pilot Feasibility Study of a Community Health Worker-delivered Tobacco Cessation Intervention During Pregnancy: The Smoke-Free HOPE Randomized Controlled Trial
BibTeX
@article{iriqat2026virtual,
title = {{Virtual Reality for Enhancing Self-Compassion and Reducing Burnout Among Mental Health Care Professionals: Protocol for a Pilot Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial}},
author = {Rawan Iriqat and Andre Faro and Stephanie Tarle and Shavon Moore and Wael Al-Delaimy},
journal = {JMIR Research Protocols},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.2196/105754},
url = {https://doi.org/10.2196/105754},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Virtual Reality for Enhancing Self-Compassion and Reducing Burnout Among Mental Health Care Professionals: Protocol for a Pilot Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial
AU - Rawan Iriqat
AU - Andre Faro
AU - Stephanie Tarle
AU - Shavon Moore
AU - Wael Al-Delaimy
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
JO - JMIR Research Protocols
DO - 10.2196/105754
UR - https://doi.org/10.2196/105754
AB - Background: Mental health care professionals working in high-demand clinical environments are frequently exposed to patient suffering and trauma, placing them at increased risk for burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Compassion-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CF-CBT) has shown promise in reducing psychological distress and enhancing self-compassion; however, traditional delivery methods may be limited by time, accessibility, and resource constraints. Virtual reality (VR) may provide an immersive and accessible approach for delivering compassion-focused interventions. Objective: The primary objective is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a self-administered VR-enhanced CF-CBT (VR-CF-CBT) intervention for mental health care professionals. Secondary exploratory objectives are to estimate changes in self-compassion, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress (STS), as well as between-group differences that can inform the design of a future definitive trial. Methods: A 2-arm randomized controlled pilot trial will be conducted among mental health care professionals. Participants will be randomized to either a VR-CF-CBT intervention or an active comparison condition consisting of self-guided CF-CBT delivered via digital booklets. Participants will complete 8 brief sessions (approximately 10 minutes each) over a 4- to 6-week period. Exploratory clinical outcomes will include changes in self-compassion, burnout, and STS measured using validated self-report instruments. Primary feasibility and acceptability outcomes will include recruitment, retention, intervention adherence, session completion, participant satisfaction, and scores on the Acceptability of Intervention Measure, Intervention Appropriateness Measure, and Feasibility of Intervention Measure. Results: The study was funded in April 2026. As of October 2026, 38 participants had provided consent and enrolled. Recruitment for a second wave of participants is ongoing, and data collection is in progress. Enrollment and data collection are expected to continue through 2026, with data analysis and dissemination of findings anticipated by spring 2027. Conclusions: This pilot study will provide information on the feasibility and acceptability of delivering CF-CBT through immersive VR to mental health care professionals. Findings will help identify whether modifications are needed before a larger trial and provide preliminary estimates to inform the design of future efficacy testing. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07666867; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07666867 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/105754
SN - 1929-0748
ER -