Department of Palliative Medicine, Heidelberg University Hospital, Im Neuenheimer Feld 305, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
Institute of Medical Psychology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Bergheimer Straße 20, 69115, Heidelberg, Germany.
BMC Palliat Care. 2024 Nov 4;23(1):254. doi: 10.1186/s12904-024-01557-6.
Many palliative cancer patients require inpatient hospital treatment for medical reasons, which contrasts their frequent desire to be at home. Virtual reality (VR) could be a way of bringing the home environment closer to them. First observations have shown benefits from VR for inpatients in palliative care. The aim of this qualitative, descriptive study was to explore the expectations of in-patients suffering from incurable cancer and their relatives about VR, in particular individualized VR images of the patients' own home.
Semi-structured interviews with inpatients suffering from incurable cancers and their relatives in three medical settings (palliative care, hematology, radiotherapy) of a German university hospital. Qualitative content analysis about expected benefits and concerns regarding VR-videos showing their private home; defining the main topics deductively and the subcategories inductively. We also assessed the patients' subjective perspective on their remaining time to live to estimate the impact of double awareness on the results. The Patient Advisory Board informed the study protocol and conduct.
We interviewed 15 patients (8 men; age M = 63.4, SD = 11.34; range 39-82) under palliative care, and four relatives. We organized the interview content in 6 themes (general interest, desired content, non-desired content, expected benefits, concerns, and irregularities) and 26 sub-themes. Most patients and relatives were interested in using VR during hospital treatment. They often preferred viewing nature or tourist sites over seeing their home or family. Reasons could be linked to privacy concerns and the general desire for distraction from the current situation that they specified with their expectation of well-being, a break from the patient-experience, the pursue of curiosity, and the VR evoking fond memories.
VR seems to be of interest for palliative cancer patients, especially as distraction and relief from their illness. The desired content can be very different, so a choice from a selection of VR-content should be made available. If patients want to see videos of their own home, recordings by relatives instead of study or hospital staff seem to meet the need for privacy.
Registered at Deutsches Register Klinischer Studien; registration number: DRKS00032172; registration date: 11/07/2023. https://drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00032172.
许多癌症晚期患者因医疗原因需要住院治疗，这与他们经常希望在家的愿望形成了鲜明对比。虚拟现实（VR）可能是一种让患者更接近家庭环境的方法。初步观察表明，VR 对姑息治疗住院患者有益。本研究为定性描述性研究，旨在探讨绝症住院患者及其家属对 VR 的期望，特别是患者自己家的个性化 VR 图像。
在德国一所大学医院的姑息治疗、血液学和放疗三个医疗环境中，对绝症住院患者及其家属进行半结构化访谈。对 VR 视频（展示其私人住宅）预期收益和关注内容进行定性内容分析；通过演绎确定主要主题和归纳确定子主题。我们还评估了患者对剩余生存时间的主观看法，以估计双重意识对结果的影响。患者咨询委员会为研究方案和实施提供了信息。
我们采访了 15 名（8 名男性；年龄 M=63.4，SD=11.34；范围 39-82）接受姑息治疗的患者和 4 名家属。我们将访谈内容组织成 6 个主题（一般兴趣、期望内容、不期望内容、预期收益、关注和不规则性）和 26 个子主题。大多数患者和家属都有兴趣在住院期间使用 VR。他们通常更喜欢观看自然或旅游景点，而不是自己的家或家人。原因可能与隐私问题以及他们从当前状况中分心的一般愿望有关，这些愿望与他们对幸福、摆脱患者体验、好奇心的追求和 VR 唤起美好回忆的期望有关。
VR 似乎对癌症晚期患者有吸引力，尤其是作为分散注意力和缓解疾病的方式。期望的内容可能非常不同，因此应该提供选择 VR 内容的选择。如果患者希望观看自己家的视频，那么由家属而不是研究人员或医院工作人员录制的视频似乎可以满足隐私需求。
在德国临床试验注册中心注册；注册号：DRKS00032172；注册日期：2023 年 7 月 11 日。https://drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00032172。
