Virtual Reality Relaxation Research Articles

Dynamic Interactive Social Cognition Training in Virtual Reality (DiSCoVR) for social cognition and social functioning in people with a psychotic disorder: study protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial

BackgroundProblems in social functioning (e.g., unemployment, social isolation), are common in people with a psychotic disorder. Social cognition is a treatment target to improve social functioning, as it is a proximal predictor of social functioning. Social Cognition Training (SCT) improves social cognition, but may not generalize (enduringly) to social functioning, perhaps due to insufficient opportunity to practice in daily-life social situations. Using virtual reality (VR) for SCT could address this problem, as VR is customizable, accessible, and interactive. We will test the effect of a VR SCT, ‘DiSCoVR’, on social cognition and social functioning in a randomized controlled trial (RCT).MethodsIn total 100 people with a psychotic disorder and deficits in social cognition will be recruited for this multicenter randomized controlled trial (RCT). Participants will be randomized to VR SCT (DiSCoVR) or VR relaxation training (VRelax; active control). DiSCoVR is a 16-session individual SCT, consisting of three modules: 1) emotion perception (recognizing facial emotions in a virtual shopping street); 2) social perception and theory of mind (observing social interactions between virtual characters and assessing their behavior, emotions and thoughts); and 3) application of higher-order social cognition in social interaction (role-playing personalized situations in VR). People receiving VRelax complete sixteen individual sessions, in which they receive psycho-education about stress, identify personal stressors, learn relaxation techniques, and explore relaxing immersive virtual environments.Assessments will be performed at baseline, post-treatment, and 3-month follow-up. Primary outcomes are emotion perception (Ekman 60 Faces), social perception and theory of mind (The Awareness of Social Inference Test). Secondary outcomes include social functioning (Personal and Social Performance Scale), experiences and social interactions in daily life (experience sampling of emotions, social participation and subjective experience of social situations), psychiatric symptoms (e.g., depression, perceived stress, anxiety, positive and negative symptoms) and self-esteem.DiscussionTo our knowledge, this will be the first RCT testing the efficacy of VR SCT. It will also investigate generalization to daily life social situations, the durability of treatment effects, and moderators and mediators of treatment success.Trial registrationOn December 5, 2017, this trial was registered prospectively in the Dutch Trial Register as NTR6863.

Virtual Reality Relaxation to Decrease Dental Anxiety

Virtual Reality Relaxation to Decrease Dental Anxiety

The Potential of Consumer-Targeted Virtual Reality Relaxation Applications: Descriptive Usage, Uptake and Application Performance Statistics for a First-Generation Application.

Virtual Reality (VR) technology can be used to create immersive environments that promote relaxation and distraction, yet it is only with the recent advent of consumer VR platforms that such applications have the potential for widespread dissemination, particularly in the form of consumer-targeted self-help applications available at regular digital marketplaces. If widely distributed and used as intended, such applications have the potential to make a much-needed impact on public mental health. In this study, we report real-world aggregated uptake, usage and application performance statistics from a first-generation consumer-targeted VR relaxation application which has been publicly available for almost 2 years. While a total of 40,000 unique users signals an impressive dissemination potential, average session duration was lower than expected, and the data suggests a low number of recurrent users. Usage of headphones and auxiliary input devices was relatively low, and some application performance issues were evident (e.g., lower than intended framerate and occurrence of overheating). These findings have important implications for the design of the future VR relaxation applications, revealing primarily that user engagement needs to be addressed in the early stage of development by including features that promote prolonged and recurrent use (e.g., gamification elements).

RELAX: An immersion virtual reality relaxation intervention for quality of life improvement in cancer patients.

152 Background: Interventions that reduce symptom distress and enhance positive feelings are crucial for improving quality of life and, conceivably, overall survival of cancer patients. One remedy is the immersive virtual reality relaxation (VR-R) environment/s to inspire an emotion-focused coping mechanism in cancer patients. Herein, we report on our experience with the use of this VR-R intervention in normal volunteers and cancer patient volunteers. Methods: Fifty cancer patient volunteers underwent VR-R training and used the VR-R environment/s for 5 - 30 minutes. VR-R is a software-based simulation, which allows an individual to be placed inside an experience, hearing and interacting with stimuli that correspond with visual images of an artificial world. The VR equipment consists of the Oculus Rift Head Mounted Display (HMD) that enables play of an interactive scenario or game that patients can experience from a first-person perspective (i.e., upon entering the interactive scenario, participants are transported into a virtual, 3D world). After the immersion VR-R intervention, patients reported on their experience during the VR-R intervention by answering a QoL questionnaire created by IFGCURE/Cancer Center of Southern California/Sarcoma Oncology Center. Results: Eight of 50 (16%) patients experienced mild motion sickness as the only adverse event associated with its use. Table 1 shows the emotions that patients reportedly experienced during VR-R intervention. Conclusions: Taken together, the data support the premise that VR-R intervention is safe and may be efficacious in improving symptom distress and quality of life of cancer patients. A phase 1/2 study is planned to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the VR-R intervention in improving quality of life in a larger number of cancer patients. [Table: see text]

Integration of a Heart Rate Monitoring System in a Virtual Reality Relaxation Therapy for Supporting an Immersion Level Measuring Technique

Objectives: The aim of this research is to study the reliability of a heart rate levels monitoring system used in a virtual reality stress therapy. This integrated heart rate monitoring system can be used for measuring the therapy’s effectiveness. This reliable method provides a real time data together with a set of questionnaire that complements each finding during the ten minutes relaxation therapy. Note that questionnaire is answered upon the completion of the experiment. Methods: VR Immersion is supported by a realistic virtual environment viewed by using a 360° head tracking display device. In addition to that, and 360° realistic surround sounds with interactive device further enhanced participants’ immersiveness. As mentioned above, in this paper, a heart rate monitoring device called Hotler was used during a therapy session. This device is recording the heart rate in real time. For this purpose, a heart rate monitoring device and questionnaire are used instead of just questionnaire for understanding the commonality between them in relation to immersion levels. Findings: The findings show that 15 out of 24 participants have given a score of 14 over 20 which indicate that they have immersed while undergoing the treatment. Note that an average of 12.33 is obtained from the 15 participants’ questions form. This is supported by the heart rate data where in most cases, it shows that participants’ heart rate has become normal. The majority of them have reached a heart rate of 76.1. This normal hate rate is found to be synchronized with data from the questionnaire. From these relations, heart rate and questionnaire, it suggests that participants are relaxing using virtual reality therapy system that their heart rate after therapy tends to stabilize normally. Applications: This research shows that VR-based relaxation therapy can be effective as indicated by immersion questionnaire with a support by heart rate monitoring device. Keywords: Heart Rate (HR), Immersion, Virtual Reality Therapy (VRT)

The Intrepid project - biosensor-enhanced virtual therapy for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorders.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by a constant and unspecific anxiety that interferes with daily-life activities. Together with the cognitive-behavioural treatments, relaxation represents a useful approach for the treatment of GAD, but it has the limitation that it is hard to be learned. To overcome this limitation we propose the use of biofeedback enhanced virtual reality (VR) to facilitate the relaxation process. The VR relaxation experience will be strengthened by the use of a mobile phone able to track and visualize, in an outpatient setting too, the physiological data of the patients. To test this concept, we planned a randomized controlled trial (NCT00602212), including three groups of 15 patients each (for a total of 75 patients): (1) the VR group, (2) the non-VR group and (3) the waiting list (WL) group. This controlled trial will be able to evaluate the effects of the use of VR in relaxation while preserving the benefits of randomization to reduce bias.

Predicting the effectiveness of virtual reality relaxation on pain and anxiety when added to PCA morphine in patients having burns dressings changes

Background Pain arising in burns sufferers is often severe and protracted. The prospect of a dressing change can heighten existing pain by impacting both physically and psychologically. In this trial we examined whether pre-procedural virtual reality guided relaxation added to patient controlled analgesia with morphine reduced pain severity during awake dressings changes in burns patients. Methods We conducted a prospective randomized clinical trial in all patients with burns necessitating admission to a tertiary burns referral centre. Eligible patients requiring awake dressings changes were randomly allocated to single use virtual reality relaxation plus intravenous morphine patient controlled analgesia (PCA) infusion or to intravenous morphine patient controlled analgesia infusion alone. Patients rated their worst pain intensity during the dressing change using a visual analogue scale. The primary outcome measure was presence of 30% or greater difference in pain intensity ratings between the groups in estimation of worst pain during the dressing change. Findings Of 88 eligible and consenting patients having awake dressings changes, 43 were assigned to virtual reality relaxation plus intravenous morphine PCA infusion and 43 to morphine PCA infusion alone. The group receiving virtual reality relaxation plus morphine PCA infusion reported significantly higher pain intensities during the dressing change (mean = 7.3) compared with patients receiving morphine PCA alone (mean = 5.3) ( p = 0.003) (95% CI 0.6–2.8). Interpretation The addition of virtual reality guided relaxation to morphine PCA infusion in burns patients resulted in a significant increase in pain experienced during awake dressings changes. In the absence of a validated predictor for responsiveness to virtual reality relaxation such a therapy cannot be recommended for general use in burns patients having awake dressings changes.