Reducing stress and anxiety in cancer patients with the use of virtual reality.

Authors

null

Zeeshan Muzammil

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL

Zeeshan Muzammil, Ramji Ramaswamy Rajendran, Alex Gordon

Organizations

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, Radiation Oncology Consultants, Park Ridge, IL, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Research Funding

Other
Schamburg Firefighters Association

Background: Applications of virtual reality (VR) have impacted every sphere of civilization, from speculative architecture to the practice of medicine. Building on the body of research already showing the benefits of immersive VR experiences, the goal of our study was to determine whether the stress and anxiety experience of different types of cancer could be mitigated by using virtual reality, specifically through relaxing VR experiences. Methods: A comparative observational study was conducted at community outpatient offices for patients who wanted to improve patient experience throughout their cancer treatment. Patients who had symptoms of nausea, dizziness, and vision issues were excluded from the study. The VR intervention consisted of patients watching a relaxation VR 360 video on the YouTube app every day for one week on the Google Cardboard VR headset. Pre- and post VR intervention scores were recorded using a DASS21 questionnaire. The mean differences in scores as well as t-tests were compared between individuals to see if VR improved patient’s experience through one’s cancer treatment. Results: There were 115 subjects (n = 115). There was an average reduction score of 6.50 points with stress seeing the biggest drop in score of 2.71 points. Breast cancer was the most common cancer diagnosis. Metastatic cancer was the cancer with the biggest change in VR intervention with an average decrease of 12.83 points. Conclusions: Virtual reality (VR) has been proven to significantly reduce the psychological discomfort, including stress, anxiety, and depression experienced during treatment, in the context of caring for cancer patients. The empirical results strongly imply that VR is an effective therapeutic intervention modality in the inpatient setting, with compelling implications for the use of VR technology in the future to lessen the physical and psychological suffering of cancer patients.

Outcome measurement across all DASS categories.
MeasureComparisonMean Difference95% CIt-statisticdfp-value
DASS TotalPost vs Pre-6.50[-8.17, -4.82]-7.67114< 0.001
DASS DepressionPost vs Pre-1.91[-2.57, -1.26]-5.78114< 0.001
DASS AnxietyPost vs Pre-1.89[-2.48, -1.30]-6.33114< 0.001
DASS StressPost vs Pre-2.71[-3.42, -2.00]-7.56114< 0.001

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2023 ASCO Quality Care Symposium

Session Type

Rapid Oral Abstract Session

Session Title

Rapid Oral Abstract Session B

Track

Patient Experience,Quality, Safety, and Implementation Science,Survivorship

Sub Track

Integrating Patient Experience Assessment and Patient Reported Outcomes Into Practice

Citation

JCO Oncol Pract 19, 2023 (suppl 11; abstr 303)

DOI

10.1200/OP.2023.19.11_suppl.303

Abstract #

303

Abstract Disclosures

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