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- Authors:
- Klocke, Alissa Carla Antonie
- Document type:
- Dissertation / Thesis
- Title:
- Mindfulness in health and sport integrating immersive virtual reality
- Advisor:
- Wagner, Matthias
- Referee:
- Wagner, Matthias; Renner, Karl-Heinz
- Submission date:
- 01.10.2025
- Date oral examination:
- 18.06.2026
- Publication date:
- 04.08.2026
- Year:
- 2026
- Pages (Book):
- XII, 180
- Language:
- Englisch
- Subject:
- Sportpsychologie ; Gesundheitspsychologie ; Achtsamkeit ; Virtuelle Realität ; Head-mounted Display ; Meditation ; Atmung ; Psychometrik
- Keywords:
- Mindfulness, Awareness, Acceptance, Focus, Sport Performance, Virtual Reality, Head-Mounted Display, Health, Meditation, Diaphragmatic Breathing, Respiratory Biofeedback
- Abstract:
- Mindfulness constitutes a multidimensional construct that is gaining increasing relevance both in scientific research and in societal discourse. Its fields of application today extend far beyond its original roots in the meditative and mental practices of Buddhism (Kabat-Zinn, 2003; Thera, 1962). Mindfulness is often defined as “(…) a kind of nonelaborative, nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness in which each thought, feeling, or sensation that arises in the attentional field is acknowledged and accepted as it is.” (Bishop et al., 2004, p. 232). According to Bishop et al. (2004), mindfulness thus includes a particular form of attentional regulation characterized by a deliberate focus on the experience of the present moment. Inner experiences such as thoughts, feelings or bodily sensations are perceived in a non-elaborative manner, meaning they are neither analyzed nor cognitively processed further. At the same time, this perception occurs in an open, nonjudgmental attitude, whereby emerging contents are neither classified as good nor bad but are accepted as they are. Over several waves of development, various manualized mindfulness-based programs have emerged, primarily applied within clinical-therapeutic contexts. Among the most well-known are Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) developed by Kabat-Zinn (1982) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) introduced by Teasdale et al. (1995). Both interventions have an extensive evidence base demonstrating their health-promoting effects (Baer et al., 2006; Teasdale et al., 2000). Building upon these established programs, mindfulness-based methods have increasingly been transferred to the sport context and further developed in a context-specific manner. An example is the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment approach by Gardner and Moore (2004), whose efficacy has also been empirically validated (Ivarsson et al., 2015; Josefsson et al., 2019). This already indicates a reciprocal relationship between psychological and sport psychological topics, which can mutually support theoretical and practical knowledge development (FEPSAC, 1995). Against this background, the use of immersive virtual reality (VR) technologies opens up new perspectives for the design and implementation of mindfulness-based interventions. However, a key prerequisite for the development and evaluation of such interventions is the availability of suitable measurement instruments for recording mindfulness-related skills in the specific application context.Accordingly, the first project of this dissertation specifically addresses the sport context. The aim is to develop a German-language, context-specific instrument for measuring mindfulness skills in athletes (MIS-D). The psychometric properties of the instrument are examined using a confirmatory factor analysis (Wieczorek et al., 2022). The second project (Wieczorek et al., 2024) moves beyond the sports application context in favor of a broader health psychology perspective. Within the framework of a systematic literature review conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines (Liberati et al., 2009), the current state of research on the psychological and physiological effects of immersive VR-based mindfulness interventions via head-mounted displays in a sport-independent target group is systematically captured and further explored through a hermeneutic-analytical evaluation (Boell & Cecez-Kecmanovic, 2014). Following this, a replication study is conducted as third project to empirically investigate the psychological and physiological effects of a VR-based mindfulness breathing meditation with integrated biofeedback, employing various subjective and objective measurement instruments (Wieczorek et al., 2025). The results of the three subprojects make a significant contribution to theoretical and practical knowledge advancement at the intersection of mindfulness, health and sport, integrating immersive VR technologies. In particular, the latter two studies open innovative perspectives on the application potential of VR-supported mindfulness interventions in the sports context and provide valuable impulses for future research.
- DDC notation:
- 158.13
- URN:
- urn:nbn:de:bvb:706-001195
- Department:
- Fakultät für Humanwissenschaften
- Institute:
- HUM 5 - Institut für Sportwissenschaft
- Chair:
- Wagner, Matthias
- Open Access yes or no?:
- Ja / Yes
- Miscellaneous:
- Autorin ist: geb. Wieczorek ; Open-Access-Lizenz der enthaltenen Paper: 1: CC BY, 2: CC BY 4.0, 3: CC BY 4.0
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