Intensive Neurofeedback Protocol: An Alpha Training to Improve Sleep Quality and Stress Modulation in Health Care Professionals During the Covid-19 Pandemic. A Pilot Study

OBJECTIVE: health care workers (HCWs) represent a vulnerable group in the COVID-19 pandemic, given the exposure to greater risk and higher levels of work-related stress. Neurofeedback (NF) has shown to be effective in the treatment of stress-related symptoms. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of an alpha-increase NF protocol for the treatment of acute stress symptoms in HCWs exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: eighteen medical doctors on duty during the COVID-19 health emergency underwent an intensive NF alpha-increase protocol. The mean alpha wave values were recorded at the beginning (T0) and at the last day of stimulation (T1). Rapid Stress Assessment: Italian version; Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI); Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Brief-COPE were administered as psychometric assessment. RESULTS: a significant increase in alpha wave values and a significant reduction of the PSQI scores from T0 to T1 were found. CONCLUSIONS: NF alpha-increase protocol showed promising results in terms of stress modulation, sleep quality improvement, and safety in a pilot sample of HCWs.