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Many health-care professionals leave clinical practice temporarily or permanently. Interventions designed to facilitate the return of health-care professionals fail to consider returners’ psychosocial needs despite their importance for patient care. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a psychoeducational intervention in improving personal skills and well-being among UK-based health-care professionals returning to clinical practice.

In total, 20 health-care professionals took part in the one-day intervention and completed measures of demographics, self-efficacy, positive attitudes towards work and perceived job resources before and after the intervention. A baseline comparison group of 18 health-care professionals was also recruited.

Significant associations were detected between return-to-work stage and study group. Following the intervention, participants reported improvements in self-efficacy and, generally, perceived more job resources, whereas positive attitudes towards work decreased. While none of these changes were significant, the intervention was deemed acceptable by participants. This study provides modest but promising evidence for the role of psychoeducation as a tool in supporting the psychosocial needs of returning health-care professionals.

Additional research is needed to clarify the reliability of intervention effects, its effectiveness compared to alternative interventions, and the impact across different subgroups of returning health-care professionals.

Return-to-practice interventions should address the psychosocial needs of health-care professionals in terms of their personal skills and well-being. Psychoeducation can increase self-efficacy and perceptions of job resources among returning health-care professionals.

This study sheds light on a relatively understudied, but fundamental area – the psychosocial challenges of health-care professionals returning to clinical practice – and further justifies the need for tailored interventions.

This study aims to pilot-test the acceptability, feasibility, preliminary efficacy and user experience of an animated virtual reality (VR) game (“Goliath: Playing with Reality”) aimed at reducing stigma related to psychosis and schizophrenia among health-care students and trainees.

A mixed-methods design was used. Sixteen trainee clinical psychologists with experience working with service users with psychosis/schizophrenia engaged with the VR game using a headset and controllers, and completed measures before and after. Quantitative measures assessing intervention acceptability, appropriateness and feasibility were collected and analysed descriptively. These were complemented by qualitative feedback on user experience, analysed through content analysis. Pre- and post-intervention mental health stigma-related measures were also collected and analysed inferentially.

Most participants found the VR game acceptable, appropriate and feasible for reducing mental health stigma. Although there were no significant changes in stigma-related measures, participants were impressed by the immersive storytelling and the symbolic portrayal of psychosis. Participants also valued the educational aspect, empathised with people living with psychosis/schizophrenia and experienced a range of emotional reactions. However, participants noted usability concerns, and suggestions for improvement were made.

This is one of the first studies to show the potential of “Goliath: Playing with Reality” as a mental health educational intervention for health-care students and trainees. Drawing on narrative theory and immersive-interactive storytelling techniques, the VR game provides experiences that can foster narrative engagement and emotional connection, potentially enhancing its effectiveness in mental health stigma reduction efforts.