Virtual Reality for Enhancing Self Compassion and Reducing Burnout Among Healthcare Providers

Summary

Healthcare providers in high-demand clinical settings are at high risk for burnout and secondary traumatic stress due to repeated exposure to patient trauma, which can compromise well-being and quality of care. Compassion-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CF-CBT) can reduce stress and enhance self-compassion, but traditional delivery is time- and resource-intensive. This project evaluates the feasibility, acceptability, and potential effectiveness of virtual reality (VR)-enhanced CF-CBT specifically adapted for healthcare providers experiencing vicarious trauma. Grounded in Neff's self-compassion framework (emphasizing self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness) the VR intervention provides 8 immersive environments where participants can practice compassion-focused skills, engage in procedural learning, and regulate emotional responses in real time.

The study will be conducted at UC San Diego Health using a two-arm randomized design comparing VR-enhanced CF-CBT with self-guided compassion-focused CBT/mindfulness exercises delivered without VR. Participants will complete 8 brief VR interventional sessions (approximately 6-10 minutes each) over 4-6 weeks. Outcomes include self-compassion, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress, measured using validated instruments. Feasibility and acceptability will be evaluated through recruitment, retention, session completion, engagement, and participant feedback.

Findings will provide preliminary evidence for VR-enhanced compassion-focused interventions as a scalable and accessible approach to supporting healthcare providers' emotional well-being in demanding clinical environments, and will inform future cultural adaptation and implementation in low-resource and conflict-affected healthcare settings such as those in post-war zones.

Conditions

• Burnout, Healthcare Workers
• Burnout
• Burnout, Psychological
• Self Compassion
• Empathy Training of Healthcare Professional Students

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Compassion focused cognitive behavioral therapy sessions delivered via virtual reality headsets

The intervention group will undergo a fixed number of immersive compassion focused cognitive behavioral therapy sessions delivered via virtual reality headsets.

BEHAVIORAL

Compassion focused cognitive behavioral therapy app based booklet

This arm will receive the same order and frequency of compassion focused cognitive behavioral therapy sessions delivered via digital booklets

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, San Diego

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Wael Al-Delaimy, PhD, MD · University of California, San Diego

• Andre Faro, PhD · Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-07-01

Primary Completion

2026-10-01

Completion

2027-02-01