Abstract
BackgroundThe uptake of traditional pulmonary rehabilitation classes by patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is poor because of personal factors that prevent accessibility to the venue. Therefore, there is a need for innovative methods of pulmonary rehabilitation, and virtual reality (VR) could be a promising technology for patients with COPD to access services remotely.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate whether VR improves compliance with pulmonary rehabilitation among patients with COPD, a particularly vulnerable patient group (Medical Research Council [MRC] 4 or 5), and whether VR provides a credible alternative to traditional pulmonary rehabilitation programs.MethodsThis was an 8-week patient trial using an innovative VR pulmonary rehabilitation program. A purposive sample of 10 patients with COPD graded MRC 4 or 5 and registered at a selected health care center and a hospital in Cumbria, United Kingdom, were included. Qualitative (focus groups and interviews) data were collected, and to further support the qualitative findings, quantitative data (self-report patient surveys) were gathered before and after the 8-week trial. The 5 self-reported surveys included the Patient Activation Measure, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Short Physical Performance Battery, and the Edmonton Frail Scale.ResultsIn a thematic analysis of the qualitative data, 11 themes emerged specific to delivering pulmonary rehabilitation using VR. The quantitative data further support the qualitative findings by revealing significant improvements in all physical measures.ConclusionsOverall, this study demonstrates how remotely supervised VR-based pulmonary rehabilitation could help to overcome current issues and limitations associated with providing this service to patients with COPD at scale.
Highlights
Pulmonary rehabilitation is a nonpharmacological intervention designed for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), involving supervised exercise training, disease education, and behavioral interventions [1]
This study aimed to investigate whether virtual reality (VR) improves the compliance of patients with COPD for pulmonary rehabilitation, with a particular focus on the vulnerable patient group (MRC 4 or 5), and whether this technology provides a credible alternative to traditional pulmonary rehabilitation programs
The patients demonstrated significant improvements in physical ability and psychological well-being because of their consistency with exercises, improving their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). These findings are consistent with both the quantitative results of this study and previous research investigating the benefits of VR for other chronic diseases [17,64,69,70,71,73,74,78] and provide evidence specific to patients with COPD
Summary
Background Pulmonary rehabilitation is a nonpharmacological intervention designed for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), involving supervised exercise training, disease education, and behavioral interventions [1]. It is one of the most effective treatments for significantly improving symptoms of dyspnea (ie, breathlessness) [2,3,4], exercise capacity, and improved quality of life [2,4,5,6] and reducing anxiety and depression in patients with COPD [1,7]. There is a need for innovative methods of pulmonary rehabilitation, and virtual reality (VR) could be a promising technology for patients with COPD to access services remotely
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