Personalized Virtual Reality for Promoting Well-Being and Psychological Flexibility in General Practitioners

NCT07140705 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 19/25
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 21
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

General Practitioners (GPs) face significant daily challenges, and promoting their well-being is essential. In particular, psychological flexibility (PF) is a key indicator of well-being. PF, conceptualized within Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), supports adaptation to change and fosters adaptive responses to demanding and complex situations. ACT identifies six core processes, which can be grouped into two functional units: the mindful acceptance of one's thoughts and emotions (acceptance, cognitive defusion, openness to internal experiences), and the commitment to engaging in actions that enrich one's life (values and committed action). This project will investigate the feasibility of a transformative metaphorical Virtual Reality (VR) experience to promote psychological flexibility and well-being in GPs. Specifically, this goal will be pursued through the integration of a metaphorical virtual experience, previously validated by the research team for its capacity to foster a transformative experience (TE)-that is, an experience that enables individuals to explore new ways of thinking and contributes to reshaping self-perception-with guided reflection on personal values and support in enacting value-consistent behaviors. A total of 25 GPs will participate in a single in-person session involving a 10-minute transformative VR experience ("The River and the Leaf"). Drawing on ACT metaphors, participants will be guided to reflect on aspects of the experience, on the professional challenges they face, and on the personal resources available to them. Following this experience, they will be supported in identifying the values that guide their everyday actions. After the in-person session, all participants will be encouraged to identify and implement value-based committed actions over the following two weeks, supported by two audio tracks.

Conditions

Healthy Participants

Keywords

Virtual reality; Transformative Experience; Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; General Practitioners; Personal values; Committed action; Psychological flexibility

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• The Comprehensive assessment of ACT (CompACT)

  This self-report scale was developed by Francis et al. (2016; Giovannetti et al., 2022) to measure psychological flexibility. The scale consists of 23 items, which can be answered using a 6-point Likert scale, where 0 indicates "completely disagree" and 6 "completely agree." The questionnaire is divided into three subscales: Openness to Experience (OE), Behavioral Awareness (BA), and Valued Action (VA), which correspond to the three pillars of psychological flexibility. Higher scores on the CompACT indicate greater psychological flexibility.

  This questionnaire will be administered at T0 (baseline) and at T2 (post-intervention, i.e., two weeks after the individual in-person session).

• Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF)

  This self-report scale was developed by Keyes (2002; Petrillo et al., 2015) to measure emotional, social, and psychological well-being. The scale consists of 14 items, which can be answered using a 6-point Likert scale, where 0 indicates "never" and 5 "every day." To assess the three dimensions, the questionnaire is divided into three subscales: the Emotional Well-Being scale (EWB, items 1-3), the Social Well-Being scale (SWB, items 4-8), and the Psychological Well-Being scale (PWB, items 9-14). Higher scores on the MHC-SF indicate greater well-being.

  This questionnaire will be administered at T0 (baseline) and at T2 (post-intervention, i.e., two weeks after the individual in-person session).

• Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for the assessment of emotions

  This scale aims to measure the intensity of positive and negative emotions (joy, contentment, pride, love, compassion, awe, hope, gratitude, sadness, fear, anger, admiration, inspiration, and awe) (Shiota et al., 2006; Cloos et al., 2023). The intensity can be expressed using a Likert scale, where 0 corresponds to "not at all" and 10 to "very much."

  This questionnaire will be administered at T0 (baseline) and at T1 (immediately after the VR experience).

• Ad hoc questionnaire to investigate the impact of the VR transformative experience

  This 6-item questionnaire is designed to evaluate the transformative experience, its pleasantness, and its impact on self-expansion. Responses are provided on a 7-point Likert scale, where 1 indicates "not at all" and 7 indicates "very much."

  This questionnaire will be administered at T1 (immediately after the VR experience).

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Slater Usoh Steed Presence Questionnaire (SUS)

  This questionnaire will be administered at T1 (immediately after the VR experience).

• Valued Living Questionnaire (VLQ)

  This questionnaire will be administered at T1 (after the VR experience) and at T2 (post-intervention, i.e., two weeks after the individual in-person session).

• Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)

  This questionnaire will be administered at T0 (baseline) and at T2 (post-intervention, i.e., two weeks after the individual in-person session).

Study Arms (1)

Experimental group

EXPERIMENTAL

Other: Transformative Virtual Reality Experience and ACT for General Practitioners

Interventions

Transformative Virtual Reality Experience and ACT for General Practitioners OTHER

This intervention consists of an individual, in-person session in which each participant engages in a 10-minute transformative Virtual Reality (VR) experience entitled "The River and the Leaf", delivered through the Meta Quest 3 headset. Drawing on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) metaphors, participants are guided to reflect on key aspects of the experience, their professional challenges, and the personal resources available to them. Following the VR session, participants are supported in clarifying the values that guide their everyday actions. After the in-person session, all participants are encouraged to identify and implement committed actions aligned with their values over the subsequent two weeks, supported by two dedicated audio tracks.

Experimental group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• being a General Practitioner and having an adequate understanding of the Italian language.

You may not qualify if:

• having pre-existing medical conditions that prevent the use of the Meta Quest 3 headset:
• presence of binocular visual abnormalities;
• history of seizures or epileptic conditions;
• presence of cardiac pacemakers, defibrillators, or implanted devices;
• use of hearing aids.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR): collaborator
• European Union: collaborator
• Catholic University of the Sacred Heart: lead

Study Sites (1)

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

Milan, Milano, 20123, Italy

Location

MeSH Terms

Interventions

General Practitioners

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Physicians; Health Personnel; Health Care Facilities Workforce and Services

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor in General Psychology

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 22, 2025
• First Posted: August 25, 2025
• Study Start: September 1, 2025
• Primary Completion: November 15, 2025
• Study Completion: November 30, 2025
• Last Updated: December 23, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-12

Locations

IT (1)