Saredakis Dimitrios, Keage Hannah A D, Corlis Megan, Loetscher Tobias
UniSA Justice & Society, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
UniSA Justice & Society, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
BMJ Open. 2021 Feb 1;11(2):e046030. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046030.
Apathy is a prevalent neuropsychiatric symptom for older adults residing in aged care. Left untreated, apathy has been associated with accelerated cognitive decline and increased risk of mortality. Reminiscence therapy is commonly used in aged care and has demonstrated to reduce apathy. Traditional methods of reminiscence use physical objects and more recently technology including tablets and laptop computers have demonstrated potential. Virtual reality (VR) has successfully been used to treat psychological disorders; however, there is little evidence on using VR for behavioural symptoms such as apathy in older adults. Using VR to deliver reminiscence therapy provides an immersive experience, and readily available applications provide access to a large range of content allowing easier delivery of therapy over traditional forms of therapy. This study aims to identify changes in apathy after a reminiscence therapy intervention using head-mounted displays (HMDs).
Participants will be allocated to one of three groups; reminiscence therapy using VR; an active control using a laptop computer or physical items and a passive control. A total of 45 participants will be recruited from residential aged care (15 in each group). The three groups will be compared at baseline and follow-up. The primary outcome is apathy, and secondary outcomes include cognition and depression. Side effects from using HMDs will also be examined in the VR group. Primary and secondary outcomes at baseline and follow-up will be analysed using linear mixed modelling.
Ethics approval was obtained from the University of South Australia Human Research Ethics Committee. The results from this study will be disseminated through manuscript publications and national/international conferences.
ACTRN12619001510134.
冷漠是居住在老年护理机构中的老年人普遍存在的一种神经精神症状。若不加以治疗，冷漠与认知能力加速衰退以及死亡风险增加有关。回忆疗法在老年护理中常用，且已证明可减轻冷漠症状。传统的回忆方法使用实物，最近包括平板电脑和笔记本电脑在内的技术也显示出了潜力。虚拟现实（VR）已成功用于治疗心理障碍；然而，几乎没有证据表明VR可用于治疗老年人的冷漠等行为症状。使用VR进行回忆疗法可提供身临其境的体验，且现有的应用程序可访问大量内容，从而比传统治疗形式更易于提供治疗。本研究旨在确定使用头戴式显示器（HMD）进行回忆疗法干预后冷漠症状的变化。
参与者将被分配到三组中的一组；使用VR的回忆疗法组；使用笔记本电脑或实物的积极对照组和消极对照组。将从老年护理机构招募总共45名参与者（每组15名）。将在基线和随访时对三组进行比较。主要结局是冷漠，次要结局包括认知和抑郁。还将在VR组中检查使用HMD的副作用。将使用线性混合模型分析基线和随访时的主要和次要结局。
已获得南澳大利亚大学人类研究伦理委员会的伦理批准。本研究的结果将通过发表论文和在国内/国际会议上进行传播。
ACTRN12619001510134。
