Immersive Virtual Reality for Enabling Patient Experience and Enrollment in Oncology Clinical Trials: A Feasibility Study.
Simple Summary: Informed consent, wherein a patient receives information on a specific medical intervention and provides agreement to proceed, is a vital step in the clinical trial enrollment process that can be taken to ensure that patients understand the research study and their rights as trial pa...
| Published in: | Cancers Vol. 17; no. 7; pp. 1148 - 1162 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
| Format: | pictorial research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
MDPI
Apr2025
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=184443254&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 184443254 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 20726694 B74B jtl: Cancers issn: 20726694 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Apr2025 vid: 17 iid: 7 pid: 97109 pub: MDPI artinfo: ui: 184443254 184443254 184443254 10.3390/cancers17071148 184443254 ppf: 1148 ppct: 14 formats: tig: atl: Immersive Virtual Reality for Enabling Patient Experience and Enrollment in Oncology Clinical Trials: A Feasibility Study. aug: au: Tsai, Frank Gray, Landon Mirabella, Amy Steinbach, Margaux Garrick, Jacqueline M. Barrett, Nadine J. Chao, Nelson Zenhausern, Frederic affil: HonorHealth Research Institute, Scottsdale, AZ 85258, USA sug: subj: Virtual Reality Equipment and Supplies Research Subject Recruitment Patient Attitudes Oncology Clinical Trials Consent (Research) Avatars Human Pilot Studies Motion Sickness Prevention and Control Cancer Patients Education Adult Questionnaires Health Knowledge Digital Health Funding Source Adult: 19-44 years ab: Simple Summary: Informed consent, wherein a patient receives information on a specific medical intervention and provides agreement to proceed, is a vital step in the clinical trial enrollment process that can be taken to ensure that patients understand the research study and their rights as trial participants. Informed consent documents can be difficult to understand for many reasons, resulting in patients being confused about the trial in which they are participating. By simplifying the informed consent process, technology may be able to improve the patient experience during clinical trial enrollment. Our feasibility study aimed to assess the feasibility of using an immersive virtual reality experience to improve the patient enrollment process in oncology clinical trials. Among 16 adult oncology patients enrolled in an intravenous port placement study, we found the virtual reality experience was well tolerated, caused minimal motion sickness, and led to high information retention with recall testing. These results support further assessment of this immersive virtual reality experience for use in oncology clinical trial enrollment. Background/Objectives: Informed consent is a crucial part of the clinical trial enrollment process in which patients are asked to understand and provide approval for medical interventions. Consent forms can be complex and hinder patient comprehension, highlighting the need for novel tools to improve the patient enrollment experience. This feasibility study aimed to develop an immersive technology to enroll human subjects in oncology clinical trials and provide 3D avatar-based informed consent in a virtual reality (VR) environment. Methods: Clinical feasibility and the effects of head-mounted VR devices on motion sickness and educational quality were evaluated in adult oncology patients enrolled in an intravenous (IV) port placement intervention study. Participants received before- and after-questionnaires to measure their understanding of the information received in VR. A follow-up questionnaire was given four weeks post-consent to measure knowledge retention. Results: Clinical staff reported that VR technology was manageable to use. Among 16 adult participants, all reported that VR was well tolerated with no motion sickness. The mean pre-intervention knowledge score was 64.6%, with an immediate post-intervention knowledge score of 97.9%. A mean knowledge score of 93.3% four-weeks post-consent was observed among 10/16 participants who completed a follow-up questionnaire. Conclusions: These findings support that VR is well tolerated and effective at delivering information during the informed consent process for oncology clinical trials. Key limitations include the small sample size and single clinical population. Further trials are warranted to compare efficacy over traditional consenting mechanisms and include more diverse clinical populations among a wider participant pool. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: pictorial research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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