AUTHOR=Humbert Annika , Kohls Elisabeth , Baldofski Sabrina , Epple Carola , Rummel-Kluge Christine 

TITLE=Acceptability, feasibility, and user satisfaction of a virtual reality relaxation intervention in a psychiatric outpatient setting during the COVID-19 pandemic

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1271702

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1271702

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Background</title><p>The COVID-19 pandemic was particularly difficult for individuals with mental disorders. Due to governmental restrictions, face-to-face offers for psychiatric outpatients like therapies, psychoeducational groups or relaxation courses were limited. Virtual reality (VR) might be a new possibility to support these patients by providing them with a home-based relaxation tool.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Objective</title><p>The aim of this study was to evaluate the acceptability, feasibility, and user satisfaction of a supportive therapy-accompanying, relaxation VR intervention in psychiatric outpatients during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Methods</title><p>The four-weeks VR intervention consisted of regular watching of relaxing videos in the participants’ home environment. Sociodemographics, feasibility (frequency of use, user-friendliness), satisfaction (Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8), depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), quality of life (abbreviated World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment), and credibility and expectancy (Credibility Expectancy Questionnaire-8) were measured in an intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis and a per-protocol (PP) analysis of completers.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Results</title><p>In total, <italic>N</italic> = 40 patients participated in the study. Most of the participants in the ITT analysis (<italic>n</italic> = 30, 75.0%) used the VR device three or 4 weeks. A majority of the <italic>N</italic> = 29 completers (PP: <italic>n</italic> = 18, 62.1%) used it all 4 weeks. Most participants used the device two or more times a week (ITT: <italic>n</italic> = 30, 83.3%; PP: <italic>n</italic> = 26, 89.7%) and described the user-friendliness as rather or very easy (ITT: <italic>n</italic> = 33, 91.7%; PP: <italic>n</italic> = 26, 89.7%). User satisfaction was high (ITT: 19.42, SD = 4.08; PP: M = 20.00, SD = 4.19) and did not correlate with participants’ sex or age (all <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05). Depressive symptoms and psychological quality of life improved significantly from pre-to post-intervention (ITT and PP, all <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05). Higher pre-intervention credibility significantly correlated with a better outcome of satisfaction (ITT and PP), depressive symptoms, physical, psychological, and social quality of life (PP; all <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05).</p></sec><sec id="sec5"><title>Conclusion</title><p>A supportive therapy-accompanying VR relaxation intervention is feasible and acceptable in a psychiatric outpatient setting. Due to the high satisfaction and user-friendliness, VR can be an easy to implement relaxation tool to support psychiatric outpatients.</p></sec><sec id="sec6"><title>Clinical trial registration</title><p><ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://clinicaltrials.gov/</ext-link>, DRKS00027911.</p></sec>