Background

The number of healthcare workers suffering from stress-related illnesses is particularly high. Heavy workloads, constantly changing work processes, and the workplace environment itself are among the most significant contributors. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem, resulting in an increase in mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and sleeping disorders. This not only affects personal well-being but also poses risks for patient safety. Specifically, nurses are vulnerable to mental health difficulties. One reason is that they maintain close contact and engage in intense interactions with patients. Moreover, they must perform physically demanding tasks, such as lifting and transferring patients. Nurses also have less autonomy than doctors, which adds stress and can lead to moral dilemmas. Consequently, it is urgently necessary to develop solutions that improve the situation for healthcare workers.

Project content

Resilience is commonly defined as stable mental health and the ability to recover quickly during and after stress exposure. It is partly influenced by an individual’s genetic make-up, but can also be enhanced through learning to better regulate emotions, reframing stressful events in a positive way, or maintaining a good sleep regime. In short, psychological interventions are possible. In our project, we utilize XR (i.e., Extended Reality) technologies to develop training programs aimed at improving the coping mechanisms of nurses. XR technologies are highly adaptable, allowing us to simulate various environments and situations. This enables us to address a wide range of potential stressors and train individuals to react appropriately to them. We also strongly advocate for implementing these methods early in the careers of healthcare workers. By providing XR resilience training to nursing students, we prepare them for the challenges they will face when entering the workforce.

Goals

The XR2ESILIENCE project team aims to leverage XR technologies to develop innovative solutions for enhancing the well-being of healthcare workers and training them to cope with a variety of stressors. XR2ESILIENCE operates within a collaborative and interdisciplinary research environment, facilitating the identification of potential blind spots within individual scientific disciplines.

Important steps in the project are:

• Identify resilience mechanisms that are most important for nursing staff.
• Explore the potential of XR (i.e., Extended Reality) in promoting resilience among nursing staff.
• Develop XR interventions that are accepted by nurses.
• Set up XR-supported resilience interventions that are well-suited to emulate everyday stressor in a health care environment.
• Allow flexible tailoring of the XR intervention to the individual needs of participants.

Methods

We are developing resilience training programs for hospitals and healthcare institutions that are based on Extended Reality (XR) technologies. In contrast to previous research in this area, our project specifically considers acceptance and success factors for using XR training in resilience. The XR interventions are tailored to the individual needs of users and evaluated through a randomized clinical trial. Additionally, we will provide employers and policymakers with a set of recommendations, including a comprehensive guideline and a simplified checklist. These resources are intended to facilitate the implementation of XR training for targeted, comprehensive, and sustainable resilience-building measures that improve the situation of healthcare sector employees. The tools and publications produced by XR2ESILIENCE are made available to the research community via the EOSC (European Open Science Cloud).

Results

XR2ESILIENCE provides resilience training for vulnerable groups in the healthcare sector, that is grounded in empirical evidence and tailored to individual needs. This personalized approach is new in the field of resilience training. The entire training program builds on Extended Reality (XR) tools and is designed in a way that allows for short interventions. Importantly, it benefits not only healthcare workers who require support in dealing with job-related stressors but also has an impact that goes beyond the individual level. It aids organizations as a whole and includes a socio-economic component.