Clinical trial NCT06186960: Tandem VR: Synchronized Nature-Based Experiences in Virtual Reality for Hospice Patients and Their Caregivers
Official title: Tandem VR: Synchronized Nature-Based Experiences in Virtual Reality for Hospice Patients and Their Caregivers
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Hospice
End of Life
Palliative Care
Pain
Anxiety
Fear of Death
Keywords: hospice
palliative care
virtual reality
VR
quality of life
personalized
nature
tandem
Lead sponsor: Prisma Health-Upstate
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Clemson University
First posted: 2024-01-02
Enrollment: 11
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Intervention model description: Multiple Method Design
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Background: Nature-based virtual reality (VR) and other outdoor experiences in head-mounted displays (HMDs) offer powerful, non-pharmacological tools for hospice teams to help patients undergoing end-of-life (EOL) transitions. However, the psychological distress of the patient-caregiver dyad is interconnected and highlights the interdependence and responsiveness to distress as a unit. Hospice care services and healthcare need strategies to help patients and informal caregivers with EOL transitions.

Detailed description: Methods: This study uses a synchronized Tandem VR approach where patient- caregiver dyads experience immersive nature-based and other outdoor VR content. This mixed methods study will recruit 20 patient-caregiver dyads (N = 40) enrolled in home hospice services nearing the end-of-life. Dyads will experience a personalized nature-based or other outdoor VR experience lasting 5-15 minutes. Self-reported questionnaires and semi-structured interviews will be collected before and after the VR intervention to identify the impacts of personalized nature-based and other outdoor Tandem VR experiences on the QOL, pain, and fear of death in patient-caregiver dyads enrolled with hospice services. Additionally, this protocol will determine the acceptance of personalized nature-based and other outdoor Tandem VR experiences by dyads as a non-pharmacological modality for addressing patient and caregiver needs. Acceptance was quantified by the number of dyads accepting or declining the VR experience during recruitment.

Discussion: Using personalized, nature-based and other outdoor VR experiences, the patient-caregiver dyads can simultaneously engage in an immersive encounter to help alleviate symptoms associated with declining health and EOL phases for the patient and the often overburdened caregiver. This protocol focuses on meeting the need for person- and caregiver-centered, non-pharmacological interventions to reduce physical, psychological, and spiritual distress.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion criteria:

* English speaking
* Projected life expectancy of \<6 months (established by hospice experts)
* Cognitively intact (has sufficient judgment, planning, organization, and self-control)

Exclusion criteria:

* Having a cognitive impairment that affects protocol participation. This will be done with the assistance of Research Recruiters to assess eligibility.
* Have a condition that interferes with VR usage, including but not limited to seizures, facial injury precluding safe placement of headset
* Have a prognosis of hours or actively dying at the time enrollment
* Patients with motion sickness
* Patients with claustrophobia
* Patients with visual and hearing impairment
* Patients with inability to speak English

Primary outcomes:
measure: Quality of life (QOL)
timeFrame: Up to 12 months
measure: Fear of Death
timeFrame: Up to 12 months
measure: Perception of Pain
timeFrame: Up to 12 months
measure: Acceptance of Tandem VR
timeFrame: Up to 12 months
measure: Perceived benefits and value of Tandem VR
timeFrame: Up to 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Seneca
country: United States
facility: Cottingham Hospice House
state: South Carolina
Study officials:
affiliation: Prisma Health Hospice of the Foothills
name: Joshua K Pope
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: