Title: Facing the reality of on-line counselling: a pilot study to explore the acceptability and therapeutic value of a virtual reality counselling world for the provision of counselling for young people affected by cancer.
Funder: Tenovus Cancer Care

Abstract: The current Tenovus Counselling Service has identified an urgent need to provide a form of counselling which is appropriate for young people in the 12-25 years age range who may be struggling to cope with the effect of cancer (either a personal diagnosis or in their role as carer/family member of an affected individual) and who are currently not accessing face-to-face counselling. Evidence suggests that young people readily engage with virtual reality environments, are used to communicating through online media, and can benefit from online counselling. This project is an exciting collaboration between the Centre for Psychology & Counselling and the School of Applied Computing at Swansea Metropolitan University, Tenovus and external expert collaborators and proposes to develop a virtual counselling world which will provide an accessible, effective way of helping younger individuals affected by cancer cope with the many challenges that they face. The design of the proposed project involves the development of a virtual reality counselling world and a pilot study of its acceptability and psychological benefits amongst young people affected by cancer in Wales. This virtual counselling world will enable young people to design their own personal avatar and that of the counsellor and to engage in a therapeutic session (through text, images or speech) via these avatars. Young people affected by cancer in their lives will be involved in all stages of the project through a Project Steering Group. This Project Steering Group will also include all co-applicants and collaborators (the latter representing qualified counsellors with a diverse range of experience in counselling young people, people with cancer or in engaging young people generally). The young people who form part of the project steering group will also contribute to the ongoing evaluation of the virtual reality counselling world as it develops and share their experiences of being part of this project through a closed project Facebook page. Following a six month period of developing and piloting the virtual reality counselling world (two part-time computer games development officers will be recruited for six months of the project in order to ensure the appropriate skill mix, overseen by co-applicant Mr Andrew Baker) the online counselling service will go live for a maximum five-month period, seeking 6-8 young people affected by cancer to engage with the online service for up to a three-month period (mirroring standard practice currently offered by Tenovus for face-to-face counselling). During this phase a suitably qualified hourly paid counsellor will be funded through SMU’s Swansea Innovation Early Stage Development Grant Scheme to engage with the virtual counselling world and deliver the synchronous and asynchronous counselling. Ethical guidelines relating to the consent of young people, protection of confidentiality and online research ethics will be adhered to at all stages of the project and participants (and parents if appropriate) in the live pilot phase will be asked to provide written informed consent following detailed information about this pilot study. During the “live” pilot period data will be collected from participants on two occasions: at baseline (prior to engaging with the virtual reality counselling world) an online questionnaire will capture key demographic variables, measures of perceived social support and psychological well-being. These outcome measures will be repeated at the end of the study alongside measures of key therapeutic outcomes and satisfaction with counselling in order to explore potential changes over time. In addition to data collected from the participants, the counsellor involved in delivering the counselling for the duration of this project will keep a narrative diary of his/her experiences which will be analysed at the end of the study in order to explore the perceptions of the person delivering the counselling in relation t


Research activity codes: 7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS;7.3 MANAGEMENT AND DECISION MAKING
Health categories: CANCER AND NEOPLASMS