Efficacy of a Mindfulness-based Intervention Programme With or Without Virtual Reality Support to Reduce Stress in University Students: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Mental health of university students is a noteworthy concern nowadays. Universities are thus challenged to set up effective preventative interventions to help students cope better with university life and improve their mental health. In this regard, it is confirmed that cognitive, behavioral, and mindfulness interventions are effective in reducing symptoms of anxiety in university students.

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are defined as a type of intervention whose aim is training the mind to adopt a nonjudgmental present-focused awareness. In recent years, these interventions have expanded and have proven to be effective for a variety of clinical and nonclinical populations.This expansion has allowed to study the benefits of mindfulness in university students.

The present study pursue to support this evidence but also to explore the potential benefits of Virtual Reality (VR) around the provision of mindfulness training to university students. VR has showed to be effective for treating several psychological disorders, especially anxiety disorders. However, current research finds promising results when it is incorporated in the third wave of therapy, although the number of studies is still limited yet. A recent study found a high acceptability of VR to practice mindfulness, a significant increase in mindfulness state, and an improved emotional state after one VR mindfulness session.

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a MBI program to reduce stress in university students, in comparison with a relaxation therapy program. The secondary aims are as follows: (1) to analyze the efficacy of a MBI program for improving the psychological well-being and academic functioning of university students, in comparison to the active control group treated with relaxation exercises; (2) to evaluate whether there are differences in the adherence to the mindfulness program, according to the modality in which this mindfulness program has been applied (i.e. with or without VR support); (3) to examine the possible differential effectiveness of each of the sub-groups of mindfulness (i.e. with or without support of the VR) in comparison to the active control group treated with relaxation therapy; (4) to assess the effects of different mindfulness-based VR environments on the emotional and mindfulness states of university students, as well as to evaluate the sensation of immersion caused by each VR environment.

The investigator's main hypothesis is that the provision of mindfulness training will reduce student´s perceived stress of university students in comparison with the university students who have been provided of relaxation training.