Evaluation of a Pre-surgical Virtual Reality Simulation for Cancer Surgery Patients

Summary

This study will pilot test and explore the feasibility of a virtual reality simulation of the operating room environment to reduce anxiety/distress in cancer surgery patients. Study objectives are to evaluate recruitment and data collection procedures, outcome measures, participant feedback on the virtual reality operating room intervention, and the inclusion of a treatment as usual group, and effects of the intervention on symptoms of anxiety/distress. Results of this study will inform the design of an upcoming larger-scale RCT to assess the efficacy of this intervention

Conditions

• Anxiety State

Interventions

DEVICE

Virtual reality operating room simulation

The virtual reality simulation will begin with the participant sitting on a hospital bed wearing the virtual reality headset and holding the controllers. Participants will be oriented to the environment and provided with an explanation of how to navigate through the simulation (for approximately 2 minutes). Next, participants will explore the virtual operating room for a minimum of 5 minutes, or longer if desired. Following the exploration period, the scripted portion of the simulation will be begin. Here, participants will be taken through the mock anesthetic induction process (the virtual anesthetist will speak to the patient and walk them through the steps and the virtual nurse will assist). The simulation ends after the virtual oxygen mask is placed over the participant's mouth and the screen darkens.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Manitoba

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jordana Sommer, MA · University of Manitoba

• Renée El-Gabalawy, PhD · University of Manitoba

• Kristin Reynolds, PhD · University of Manitoba

• Pamela Hebbard, MD · University of Manitoba

• Natalie Mota, PhD · University of Manitoba

• Alan Mutch, MD · University of Manitoba

• Thomas Mutter, MD · University of Manitoba

• Rakesh Arora, MD · University of Manitoba

• Jessica Maples-Keller, PhD · Emory University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-12-01

Primary Completion

2024-01-31

Completion

2024-01-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations