JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Regular mindfulness practice has been demonstrated to be beneficial for mental health and has been adapted as a psychological intervention to support wellbeing across the mental health spectrum. However, mindfulness can be challenging to adopt as a habitual practice, with environmental and personal distractors often cited as barriers. Virtual reality (VR) supported practice may overcome these barriers by providing an immersive and engaging environment in which to engage in mindfulness practice.

Objective:

The aims of the current study were to explore how VR can support mindfulness practice and to understand user experience issues that may affect the acceptability and efficacy of VR mindfulness for users in the general population.

Methods:

A VR mindfulness app was designed that incorporated end-user feedback from nine focus group participants during an iterative development process. A further 37 participants from the general population trialled the refined 15-minute VR mindfulness app. State mindfulness, emotion, and symptoms of simulator sickness were measured pre and post use. Qualitative feedback was collected through interviews that aimed to understand the features of VR that helped or hindered the mindfulness practice. These interviews also explored participant perceptions of acceptability.

Results:

State mindfulness (P < .001, Cohen d = 1.80) and positive affect (P = .006, r = .45) significantly increased after using the VR mindfulness app. No notable changes in simulator sickness symptoms were observed across the sample. Participants described the VR experience as being relaxing, calming, and positive. They described how particular visual and auditory features aided them in orienting their attention to the present moment. Presence was a feature identified by participants as being helpful to practicing mindfulness by providing a sense of transportation, creating a bounded scope for attention and supporting present-moment awareness. Interruptions to presence, however, acted as distractors. Some uncomfortable experiences were discussed, primarily in relation to visual quality and the weight of the VR headset, though these were infrequent and minor.

Conclusions:

This study supports the acceptability and feasibility of using VR as a technology to support mindfulness practice. It contributes evidence of the ability for VR to produce an increase in state mindfulness and extends previous work by exploring design features and mechanisms that may be involved in supporting present-moment awareness in VR. It highlights attention restoration as a potential unique affordance of the VR system.