Virtual Therapy Complementary Prehabilitation of Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer—A Pilot Study

Abstract

Breast cancer is becoming an important issue due to its various consequences and epidemiology. Studies are showing that it extremely impacts the mental health as well as the physical activity of the patients. In addition to the most common symptom, which is fatigue, patients also have problems with the quality of sleep. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) therapy in improving the mental state and quality of sleep, as well as increasing the physical activity (PA) of patients diagnosed with breast cancer. The study was conducted in a hospital’s Breast Unit and included patients at the time of diagnosis of malignant breast cancer. A total of 16 subjects randomly divided into experimental (n = 9), and control (n = 7) groups were measured with the Beck Depression Scale, Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale, International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index at two timepoints. The experimental intervention consisted of a 2-week (8 sessions) Virtual Therapeutic Garden (VRTierOne) procedure performed daily for about 15 min. Significant differences were identified between groups in the interactions between the main factors seen in the destructive style of the Mini-Mac scale: F(1.14) = 4.82, p = 0.04, and between multiple experiments: F(1.14)= 5.54, p = 0.03 showing a significant reduction in the destructive style of coping with the disease in the study group after therapy (32.44 vs. 28.33, p = 0.003). The level of main effects [study] for the constructive style is F(1.14) = 3.93, p = 0.06 with a significant increase in constructive style in the study group (43.33 vs. 45.33, p = 0.044). Significant differences in levels of depression between multiple experiments: F(1.14) = 5.04, p = 0.04, show a significant reduction in the severity of depressive symptoms was found in the experimental group after therapy (13.33 vs. 8.11, p = 0.02). However, the analysis did not show significant differences between group analyses (p = 0.25). It seems that VR reduces the severity of depressive symptoms and reduces the destructive style and can be an effective option in improving the mental state of patients diagnosed with breast cancer.

Effects of Active Video Games in Patients With Cancer: Systematic Review

“…Quality assessments of the randomized studies are presented in Table 2 and are available in Multimedia Appendix 3 . Overall, the risk of bias ranged from low [ 40 ] to some concerns [ 33 , 38 , 39 , 46 , 50 , 51 ] to high [ 34 ]. This assessment depended primarily on knowledge of allocation, number of dropouts, lack of data, and heterogeneity of baseline results.…”

“…PA levels were assessed in 6 studies using pedometers [ 48 , 50 ], accelerometers and diaries [ 34 ], or questionnaires [ 39 , 46 , 51 ]. Four studies found that AVGs did not significantly improve this parameter [ 34 , 46 , 50 , 51 ].…”

“…Four studies found that AVGs did not significantly improve this parameter [ 34 , 46 , 50 , 51 ]. Hoffman et al’s study [ 48 ] indicated that AVGs could increase PA levels, but the authors did not present statistical analysis, and Czech et al’s study [ 39 ] indicated that AVGs increased PA levels significantly.…”

“…No significant results were found on anxiety [ 46 , 47 ]. However, Schumacher et al [ 46 ] and Czech et al [ 39 ] showed an improvement in the depression score.…”

“…In our systematic review, sleep quality was not a primary outcome. Nevertheless, 2 studies evaluated the effects of exergames on this parameter using polysomnography and the Children’s Sleep Habit Questionnaire in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia [ 60 ] and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index in patients with breast cancer [ 39 ]. Both of these studies demonstrated the positive effects of the AVG intervention on sleep quality.…”