Brief Mindfulness Workshop With or Without Virtual Reality: A Pilot Study

Brief Mindfulness Workshop With or Without Virtual Reality: A Randomized Crossover Design

The current study uses a randomized cross-over design, in which participants are exposed to brief mindfulness-based experiential sessions with and without incorporating virtual reality (i.e., the experimental and control conditions, respectively). Order of exposure to these two conditions are counter-balanced and participants are randomized into the two arms of exposure in a different order. Furthermore, this study includes the use of both subjective self-report and objective physiological measures of mental wellbeing. It is hypothesized that VR-incorporated mindfulness-based experiential session brings a greater improvement in state mindfulness, state affect, and stress response. Results shed light on the added value of incorporating VR into brief MBIs, particularly in reference to the typical practice of promoting mindfulness in the local community.

Inclusion Criteria:

• aged 18 years or older
• reads Chinese
• understands Cantonese

Exclusion Criteria:

• history of sever motion sickness or known intolerance to VR environments
• impairments that may interfere with the use of VR equipment
• concurrent or past structured mindfulness training