A project looking at the use of Virtual Reality headsets to help relieve anxiety and pain in patients being cared for by the palliative care team at Addenbrooke’s Hospital has revealed some impressive results.
The project involves patients choosing a nature-themed video from a library of different experiences. Patients are asked to score their pain and anxiety levels before putting on a VR headset and watching a short nature video with audio and music. They then re-rate their score levels for both pain and anxiety immediately after watching the video.
In the first stage of the project, which saw 28 patients take part, results showed a staggering 28.6% reduction in pain levels, followed by a 40.3% reduction in anxiety levels.
Supporters of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT) funded the lease of the DR VR headset from Rescape Innovation for two years so that the palliative team could look at the impact of virtual reality on their patients. However, a delay over COVID means the project has now been extended into its third year.
The virtual reality project was spearheaded by Nancy Burridge, Clinical Nurse Specialist from Addenbrooke’s Palliative Team, who wanted to investigate the use of virtual reality headsets and their benefits to palliative care patients as part of a Masters module she was studying.
“For us in palliative care there are other ways in which we can help patients relieve their symptoms, but virtual reality is really helpful and can make patients feel much happier. It reduces their pain, reduces their anxiety and there is no downside to it, so it is just a win win for us. And for us as therapists as well, to be able to offer something that gives patients that level of comfort so easily is just really nice.”
“I think patients just love the relief of being able to escape for a short time from their environment, from their treatments, from everything and it allows them to relax. I think that’s the beauty of virtual reality that it is so absolutely immersive. You put on the headphones, you show them the goggles and they are completely unaware of everything else that’s going on around them. They are on that beach, they are in Paris, whatever they are doing they are there.”
Gemma James-Smith, VR Partnerships and Research Consultant at Rescape Innovation Ltd, the company that leases the headset to healthcare facilities, said: “The research behind it demonstrated that nature exposure in VR is very restorative for our mental wellbeing and it can reduce stress and anxiety and improve mood. Nature exposure in VR does bring some of those benefits even though some of the other stimuli, like smell, are not there – but you still get the visuals and audio effects.”
“Some people choose the beach, that is a very popular one. A lot of people will be drawn to the alpine experience but we even have experiences set in the desert and in space too, so our library of experiences for patients is quite eclectic.”
“It’s very typical to see reductions in both anxiety and pain levels. But it’s great. Anything that can bring a better quality of life to end of life patients is fantastic and very typical of what we see across the board.”
She said virtual reality headsets were used in a variety of healthcare settings and that it could be used on wards, during procedures and in an outpatient setting, across a variety of medical areas - including everything from oncology, haematology and palliative care to neurology and gynaecology.
Results from the VR evaluation project saw Nancy present her findings at the Palliative Care Congress last year and the summary of her findings won the Marlow Prize – giving her and her team the chance to write a report of their findings in the British Medical Journal of Supportive and Palliative Care.
Nancy and her team say the use of virtual reality headsets will continue at Addenbrooke's, benefiting many more patients, thanks to a generous gift left by past patient Jo Brooks in her will.
Jo left money in her will to support the ongoing use of VR at Addenbrooke’s having used it herself and experiencing the benefits. Having been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, Jo’s cancer returned in 2018, spreading to her left rib, with tumours on her hip, pelvis and lymph nodes. She was admitted to Addenbrooke’s at the end of 2019 after having trouble breathing and stayed in for three months and it was during this time she was given the use of the VR headset to help relieve some of her anxiety.
Jo’s husband Matt said: “It really helped to lift her spirits, at a very low point.”
Jo’s mum, Teresa Davy, said: “After two and a half months in hospital, her lungs were still filling up with fluid. She was sitting in bed one day, a heap of misery, and Emma, one of the palliative care nurses came in with VR headset and said, ‘I don’t know if you would be interested in this Jo but you just might like to see what it is like.’ Jo put the glasses on and the headphones and suddenly the whole mood lightened. It was the underwater experience and Jo loved water.”
“We couldn’t see what she was seeing but all you could hear was ‘ooh look at that! And these squeals of excitement. I don’t know how long she had it for but the impression left on her was enormous. It lifted her mood and made such a difference.”
“It was amazing because it took her out of herself. I wouldn’t like to say it reduced her pain but it certainly reduced her anxiety because it took her into another world.”
Jo was told she had a brain tumour two years ago which was when she asked her family to leave a legacy to buy a VR headset for the palliative team.
Sadly, Jo passed away a few months later which was when Teresa and Matt worked with the palliative care team to make sure Jo's generous £7,000 legacy could be used to extend the benefits of the VR headset to many more patients.
Nancy said, “We are extremely grateful to Jo’s family for buying the headset but also to ACT and its supporters for funding the lease of a VR headset to get the project started."
“I feel that there is a lot more work to be done with virtual reality because I have seen it have such positive effects. One of the things we are looking at now is whether it helps patients with symptoms of breathlessness because what we have noticed from our observations of watching people using the experiences is that we see a slowing in their breathing so this seems like a really good next step. We have discussed it with a team that we work alongside called the Breathless Intervention Service so that is where we are hoping to go next.”
If you would like to raise money for more innovative projects like the virtual reality headsets, please go to: www.act4addenbrookes.org.uk/donate
