Feasibility of a brief group-based immersive 360° mindfulness program for stress-related outcomes in health sciences students: a 4-week pre–post pilot study

TL;DR

A short immersive mindfulness program using 360° projection was tested for reducing stress in health science students, showing some promising results.

Contribution

This study introduces MK360, a novel group-based immersive mindfulness program using 360° projection for stress reduction in students.

Findings

Perceived stress decreased slightly over four weeks, though not statistically significant.

Heart rate and blood pressure showed immediate reductions during sessions.

The program was feasible and well-tolerated with no serious adverse events.

Abstract

Medical and nursing students experience high stress that can impair well-being and training. Immersive technologies may offer brief, scalable relaxation. MK360 combines short guided mindfulness with immersive 360° projection in a shared multisensory room environment without wearables.

To assess feasibility and explore short-term changes in perceived stress and immediate autonomic arousal following a brief, predominantly group-based immersive 360° mindfulness program in medical and nursing students.

Single-site pre–post pilot at the University of Lleida. Students attended four ~20-min MK360 sessions over 4 weeks. Heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (SBP/DBP) were recorded immediately before and after each session. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14), the Goldberg Anxiety and Depression Scale-anxiety subscale (GADS/EADG), and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-SS) were administered at baseline and endline. Pre–post changes were tested using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests (α = 0.05); a one-tailed test was pre-specified for PSS (direction: decrease).

Twenty-six students initiated the study (mean age 21.0 years; 88.9% female; 83.3% medical students), and 18 completed all assessments (completion 69.2%). Perceived stress decreased from baseline to endline (PSS-14 median [IQR] 29.5 [26.0–33.5] to 26.5 [19.5–33.8]; Δ − 3), but did not reach statistical significance in the pre-specified one-tailed Wilcoxon test (p ≈ 0.07; two-tailed sensitivity p ≈ 0.15; r ≈ −0.35). Burnout subscales showed non-significant directional changes (exhaustion and cynicism decreased; academic efficacy increased). Anxiety scores showed no material change. Immediate pre- to post-session reductions were observed for HR (mean Δ − 1.8 to −5.5 bpm) and SBP (Δ − 2.7 to −8.4 mmHg) across sessions; DBP decreased in sessions 2 and 4 but not in sessions 1 and 3. Among completers, 50.0% reported feeling somewhat better emotionally and 38.9% no change. No serious adverse events were reported.

MK360 was feasible and well tolerated, with signals consistent with reduced perceived stress over 4 weeks and transient reductions in cardiovascular arousal within sessions. Given the uncontrolled design and small sample, causal inference is not warranted; controlled studies should confirm effectiveness, examine dose–response, and compare delivery formats.