Publication date: Jun 16, 2025
Background/Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic affected frontline workers’ mental health, including healthcare workers, firefighters, and police officers, increasing the need for effective interventions. This study focuses on the pandemic’s psychological impact, perceived stress, depression/anxiety symptoms, and resilience, examining if a brief virtual reality (VR)-based relaxation session could reduce psychological symptoms. Methods: In this preliminary study with data collected in 2025 from frontline workers who had served during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, 54 frontline workers completed a baseline assessment of the perceived psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic, general perceived well-being, perceived stress (PSS-4), anxiety/depression (PHQ-4) and resilience (RS-25). Each participant then engaged in a 10-min immersive VR relaxation session featuring a calming 360^0 nature environment with audio guidance, after which questionnaires were re-administered. Paired samples t-tests and repeated-measures ANOVA evaluated pre-/post-session differences, and a hierarchical multiple linear regression model tested predictors of the change in stress. Results: Pre-session results showed moderate perceived stress and resilience and low depression/anxiety. Occupation groups varied in baseline stress, mostly reporting negative pandemic psychological effects. After VR, significantly perceived well-being increased, and stress decreased, whereas depression/anxiety changes were nonsignificant. Repeated-measures ANOVA revealed a main effect of time on stress (p = 0. 003) without occupation-by-time interaction (p = 0. 246), indicating all occupational groups benefited similarly from the VR session. Hierarchical regression indicated baseline depression and higher perceived pandemic-related harm independently predicted greater stress reduction, whereas resilience and baseline anxiety showed no statistically significant results. Conclusions: A single VR relaxation session lowered perceived stress among frontline workers, particularly those reporting higher baseline depression or pandemic-related burden. Limitations include the absence of a control group. Results support VR-based interventions as feasible, rapidly deployable tools for high-stress settings. Future research should assess longer-term outcomes, compare VR to alternative interventions, and consider multi-session protocols.
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| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Healthcare | anxiety |
| Pandemic | COVID-19 pandemic |
| Police | depression |
| firefighters | |
| frontline workers | |
| health workers | |
| police officers | |
| resilience | |
| stress reduction | |
| virtual reality |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 Pandemic |
| disease | MESH | depression |
| disease | MESH | anxiety |
| disease | MESH | emergency |
| disease | MESH | psychological distress |
| disease | MESH | insomnia |
| disease | MESH | work related stress |
| disease | MESH | burnout |
| disease | MESH | emotional exhaustion |
| disease | MESH | secondary traumatic stress |
| disease | MESH | mental disorders |
| disease | MESH | job performance |
| disease | MESH | depersonalization |
| disease | MESH | anxiety disorders |
| disease | IDO | site |
| disease | IDO | intervention |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Esomeprazole |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Water |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Hydrocortisone |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Methionine |
| disease | MESH | contraindications |
| disease | MESH | photosensitive epilepsy |
| disease | MESH | motion sickness |
| disease | MESH | multiple sclerosis |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Isoxaflutole |
| disease | MESH | labyrinthitis |
| disease | MESH | psychological well being |