Clinical trial · Interventional
Virtual Environments in Patients Receiving Treatment for Cancer
The Effectiveness of Virtual Environment on the Adverse Psychological Effects in Patients Receiving Treatment for Cancer
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
The mood disturbances that lung cancer patients experience during and after chemotherapy have a debilitating effect on their quality of life. The goal of the proposed project is to develop and test an intervention that relies on the use of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) to combat the adverse psychological/emotional consequences of receiving treatment for cancer. Although VR has been used with success to treat various psychological conditions (e.g., phobias, PTSD), its potential in helping cancer patients experience an improved mood and hence better quality of life has not yet been tested. In this project the investigators will first develop the virtual content (e.g., natural scenes) that patients will experience within a Head-Mounted-Display, simulating movement by manipulating a gesture controller. The investigators will then carry out a randomized, double blind, crossover trial with 50 hospitalized cancer patients to test whether they can benefit psychologically and emotionally from their interaction with an immersive environment compared to those who will experience a guided imagery intervention. A positive result will open the route for the future development of affordable self-administered VR solutions for treating the psychological side-effects of cancer treatment.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mood Disturbances | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guided Imagery | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Intervention VE
- description
- Session of Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) and Session of Guided Imagery
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: Immersive Virtual Reality (VR)
- Behavioral: Guided Imagery
- type
- ACTIVE_COMPARATOR
- label
- Intervention GI
- description
- Session of Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) and Session of Guided Imagery
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: Immersive Virtual Reality (VR)
- Behavioral: Guided Imagery
Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- Changes in Mood Disturbances as measured by the POMS
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Patients will be included if they had a histopathological diagnosis of cancer (different types are allowed) * were 18 years or older, on active treatment and were receiving care at the hospital as inpatients * Eligible participants will need to be able to speak and understand Greek and they had given written informed consent * Participants should also have a score of \>60 on the POMS total mood disturbance scale, a \>50 on the Karnofsky Performance Scale Index * a mean of \>50 on the Attentional Function Index (AFI) Exclusion Criteria: * Patients were excluded if they were receiving palliative care * they had an impaired cognitive ability or * they had an impaired visual ability
References
Publications (1)
- DERIVEDIoannou A, Paikousis L, Papastavrou E, Avraamides MN, Astras G, Charalambous A. Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Vs Guided Imagery on mood changes in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy treatment: A crossover trial. Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2022 Dec;61:102188. doi: 10.1016/j.ejon.2022.102188. Epub 2022 Aug 13. PMID 36202024