Self-management of Stress and Sleep Disturbances with Virtual Reality Relaxation

Recruiting now · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Virtual Reality

In brief

Stress is a well-established factor in the onset and continuation of burn-out anxiety, mood and psychotic disorders. Furthermore, sleep disturbances predispose and exacerbate mental health symptoms of the condition. In people with mental health problems, higher (social) stress-reactivity and impaired stress-recovery are present which is further aggravated by sleep disturbances and sleep deprivation. Relaxation reduces the stress, which in turn may reduce mental health symptoms, improve daily life functioning and quality of life. The burden of burn-out and psychiatric illness can be decreased by stress-reducing interventions which have been shown to improve quality of life and social and occupational functioning. Although current stress-reducing interventions appear to be efficacious, it must be taken into account that they require mental effort (i.e. attention and concentration of patients) which is often impaired in patients. To bridge this gap, a new e-Health application was developed called VRelax. VRelax is a virtual reality self-management stress-reduction tool (VRelax). This tool requires far less effort than traditional relaxation exercises due to its immersive properties, and has an immediate effect on perceived stress and emotional mental states. In this study, the short-, medium- and long term effect of VRelax + treatment as usual (TAU) compared to TAU and relaxation exercises on symptomatic recovery, level of social functioning, healthcare consumption and societal costs will be investigated.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT05440825

Run by

University Medical Center Groningen

People needed

171

Starts

2022-06-23

Expected to finish

2026-09-01

Last updated by the study team

2025-03-30

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Currently receiving treatment for burn-out, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive disorder and/or psychotic disorder.
• Complaints of stress and/or sleep disturbances as reported by patient or therapist
• Age > 18

You may not qualify if…

• Individuals with a DSM-5 classification of substance use disorder
• Individuals with photosensitive epilepsy with seizure in the past year or organic brain damage
• Individuals with insufficient command of Dutch language
• Individuals with intellectual disability (estimated IQ < 70)

Where it is running

• Mediant — Enschede, Netherlands (enrolling)
• Forte GGZ — Groningen, Netherlands (enrolling)
• Lentis — Groningen, Netherlands (enrolling)
• UMCG — Groningen, Netherlands (enrolling)
• Argo GGZ — Lochem, Netherlands (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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