Psychological effects of virtual reality intervention on breast cancer patients with different personalities: A randomized controlled trial.
Shanshan Wu, Guodu Liu, Jie Yang and 9 others
PMID 40241873WHAT IT FOUND
VR did not reduce psychological distress more than standard care overall.
In Type D patients, negative emotions were lower after VR than after standard care, but that was not the primary outcome.
Key findings
01In the whole analysed sample, VR and standard care did not differ significantly on psychological distress after intervention.
02In the Type D subgroup, negative emotion decreased by 5.0 points after VR, and the between-group difference was significant (P = 0.046).
03Three of 104 VR patients had vertigo and discontinued, and pulse rates did not change significantly during the first VR session.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Single-center and unblinded, so expectations and local practice may have affected reported symptoms. Only 85 of 237 randomized patients were analysed because the study used per-protocol analysis and many did not complete 3 to 5 sessions within the visit window. The Type D subgroup was small (24 patients), so the significant negative-emotion finding is not definitive. Baseline age differed between groups, possibly because older patients were less willing to continue VR. The intervention was only 3 to 5 sessions over 5 ± 2 weeks, so long-term effects were not measured. The Distress Thermometer includes physical problems, so it may not isolate emotional change. Pandemic quarantine and scheduling caused more exclusions than planned.
Declared interests
Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (project 82073408). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that VR is proven to reduce psychological distress in breast cancer patients. The primary outcome showed no significant between-group difference, and the significant improvement in negative emotions was limited to the Type D subgroup.