Virtual Reality-Based Mindfulness for Caregivers of Psychiatric Patients

In a sample of caregivers who visit the Department of Psychiatry at the "Renato Dulbecco" University Hospital in Catanzaro, the effects of the combined VR plus immersive audio treatment will be compared with the effects of immersive audio stimulation alone using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design. The main goal is to evaluate how much the experimental group's caregivers' mental health has improved both before and after therapy. The following self-report measures will be used for assessment: The World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5), the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Italian Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF), the Scale of Positive and Negative Experiences (SPANE), the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Assessing variations in treatment effectiveness between the experimental and control groups is the secondary goal.