Table 3 Themes related to mindfulness (interviews n = 15)
From: Evaluation of a novel interactive virtual reality environment for mindfulness skills training
Theme | Subtheme | Indicative comments |
|---|---|---|
Impact | Useful | “I'm…in an A&E department. So, coming home from that to, you know, just sit on the couch, on a nice little island, just hear this voice in your ear and, kind of, follow along with the breathing instructions, it did calm me down, it was quite nice. Then, I'd come out of the experience feeling a little bit more chilled than I otherwise might have” |
“anything like that where you can just switch off from the world, that was useful, especially for me, because, like I say, I had a bad year last year. It was kind of good just to go, “Right.” Put the thing on and then kind of like just go, “Right, I’m just doing this for a bit.” and just putting that time aside…” | ||
Engagement | Enjoyment | “logging on to try to do the exercises just online just felt like another task in my day, but the VR environment was quite nice. It was a novelty, it was a change of scenery, a breath of fresh air, kind of thing. It didn't seem like a chore, it just seemed like something fun to relax myself” |
“usually when I've done mindfulness stuff in the past, it's always just a recording and you just listen to it. With the addition of the whole island and stuff, that was pretty cool” | ||
Engagement | Choice | “You know, there was that choice, there were good options there to spend a long time there or a short… So, yes, I just liked that. Then having that, “I’m here now for X amount of time to just get into the mindfulness.” So, yes, I found that really good” |
“You know, you can't just pop away of an evening to go and see a beach somewhere all the time, so it's quite nice to just sit on the couch when you have half an hour and suddenly be on a tropical island. It's not the real thing, of course, but it's a nice simulation of one and it genuinely did help a little bit” | ||
Presence | Escape | “I liked the way it created a little bit of space between yourself and the immediacy of problems that you might be having at the time. It, sort of, just gave you a little bit of a breather. Your problems are still there, as soon as you come off the island your problems are still there, but it's nice to get away from them for a little bit. That guided meditation did that for me” |
“Well really good, like I say, it just kind of took you out of the moment, literally, because you were in this virtual world but then you were doing the mindfulness as well. So it was really quite good in that way” | ||
Presence | Focus | “I liked being immersed in it. Yes, I don’t think that I would listen to mindfulness things just while, you know, not… Like just sat in my flat, looking around, or something, yes” |
“I think I was more engaged with the VR than without. With the conventional it’s the same audios, but I find myself lying in bed and listening to them instead of exploring something. It’s harder for me to stay focused on it when it’s just the audio” |