MedTrace Logo

Virtual Reality for Anxiety Management in Persons With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

NCT07473765 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 60

Last updated 2026-03-16

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Virtual Reality (VR) is gaining traction as a new and innovative leisure to augment healthcare services. Several benefits of the leisure experience, such as distraction and full sensory immersion, have demonstrated a potential to significantly impact the field of healthcare through pain reduction, anxiety reduction, and is seen as an innovative approach to motor learning. Persons with ALS (pwALS) have a high prevalence of anxiety over the course of their illness, which has a negative impact on their quality of life, and the quality of life of those closest to them. The use of VR for anxiety management and subsequent quality of life improvement has yet to be explored in the ALS population.

For individuals with ALS, VR can be both (1) an escape from the reality of living day to day with a progressive fatal diagnosis; and (2) the opportunity to potentially improve anxiety, both of which are linked to the quality of life of individuals living with ALS. Our hypothesis is that a simple and accessible home VR-guided relaxation exercise program can improve subjective anxiety symptoms in a person living with ALS and subsequently improve quality of life.

Conditions

  • ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis)

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Virtual Reality Guided Breathing Exercise

Home-based guided breathing exercise using a virtual reality system application.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Saskatchewan

    collaborator OTHER

  • Nova Scotia Health Authority

    collaborator OTHER

  • Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation

    collaborator OTHER

  • Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario

    collaborator OTHER

  • Horizon Health Network

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Colleen O'Connell, MD FRCPC · Horizon Health Network

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-04-01
Primary Completion
2027-03-31
Completion
2027-06-30

More Related Trials

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07473765 on ClinicalTrials.gov