Effects of a Virtual Reality Hypnosis Intervention on Reducing Stress and Compassion Fatigue in Neonatal Intensive Care Nurses

The practice of nursing is based on helping relationships and empathy. The work is physically, mentally and emotionally demanding. This requires the mobilization of personal resources (lifestyle, coping strategies) and work resources (managerial, medical support, recognition) to cope with stress. When these resources are present, nurses can activate a resilience process through coping strategies. However, stress levels and emotional impact are such that they can lead to states of suffering and trauma such as compassion fatigue (CF). The prevalence of CF is high in the nursing profession and particularly among neonatal intensive care (NICU) nurses.

Several levels of intervention exist to prevent CF in services: organizational, inter-individual and individual. At the individual level, certain interventions such as meditation have been studied, showing positive effects with the highest levels of evidence.

On the other hand, interventions such as hypnosis have not yet been studied in this context. There is, however, an interest in studying hypnosis as a non-pharmacological intervention to reduce stress and improve emotional regulation. Indeed, the hypnotic process (promoting attentional and cognitive rest, redirecting attentional focus, reducing mental effort) is a resource activator. In order to combine individual and organizational support, the intervention must be offered in the workplace and during working hours, given the difficulty nurses have in extracting themselves from the service, the restricted break time and the acceptability of the virtual reality system. In a context where break time is short and precious, it is necessary to use a tool that adapts to these constraints. Virtual reality with the HypnoVR® tool meets these needs. This device acts as a restorative environment. It has already proven its effectiveness in the care of painful and stressed patients in critical situations. It has not yet been studied in the context of work-related stress in healthcare professionals, such as neonatal intensive care nurses. The protocol takes into account the results of studies reporting the effects associated with the use of virtual reality (VR).