Virtual Reality (VR) Based Mindfulness Practice in Relieving Stress in Postgraduate Students

Virtual Reality-supported Mindfulness Practice in Relieving Stress in Postgraduate Students: a Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial

University students, especially graduate students, are constantly striving to achieve their goals, and their performance is constantly being evaluated, which creates a plethora of stressors, such as tests, a large amount of content to be learnt, lack of time, getting poor marks, and living up to their expectations. Mindfulness has been demonstrated to benefit one's emotions in a 'non-judgement' way. Evidence suggests that VR-based mindfulness practice may help individuals maintain present-moment awareness and block out distractions and may be more effective than conventional mindfulness approaches. The current pilot study aims to test the feasibility and acceptability of VR-based mindfulness practices in graduate students.

A three-arm, assessor-blinded pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) will be implemented. Participants will be randomly assigned to either mindfulness group, VR mindfulness group and control group. Participants will be randomised at a 1:1:1 ratio to the intervention groups or control group. Block randomization will be conducted by an independent research assistant using randomly varying block sizes of 4 and 6 to avoid selection bias. This study aims to test the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of the VR-based mindfulness practice in improving stress for graduate students.

Specific objectives are as follows:

1. To investigate the feasibility and acceptability of the VR-based mindfulness practice in improving stress for graduate students
2. To investigate the preliminary effects of VR-based mindfulness practice in improving stress for graduate students
3. To understand the user experience of mindfulness practice in VR

Inclusion Criteria:

1. aged 18 or over;
2. enrolled in graduate programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong;
3. experienced stress: the score of perceived stress scale more than 13;
4. able to speak and write in English

Exclusion Criteria:

1. diagnosed with psychiatric disorders;
2. currently taking psychotropic medication;
3. have history of photosensitive epilepsy or previous experience of severe simulator sickness;
4. receiving or have just completed other psychological interventions (e.g. stress management, mental health support, peer support, etc) within the last six months will be excluded; or
5. history of seizures and motion sickness.