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This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

EV0830

Reducing anxiety with immersive virtual reality in hospital-based geriatric palliative care

REDUCING ANXIETY IN HOSPITAL-BASED GERIATRIC PALLIATIVE CARE THROUGH IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL REALITY

Following a single virtual reality (VR) session, anxiety and symptom burden scores decreased in older adults hospitalized for palliative and end-of-life care, while usability and satisfaction were rated highly.

The study aimed to evaluate virtual reality technology for managing psychological and physical symptoms in individuals hospitalized for palliative and end-of-life care. There were 10 participants, with a mean age of 77.6 years (standard deviation 13.6; range 62–98); 60% were male and 40% were female. Participants died an average of 39.9 days (standard deviation 18.3) later. The intervention consisted of a single VR session lasting an average of 8.5 minutes (standard deviation 0.8) and 22.9 seconds (standard deviation 4.2). The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y) and Edmonton Symptom Assessment System Revised (ESAS-r) were administered before and after the session; usability was also assessed afterward using the System Usability Scale (SUS), alongside satisfaction and perceived safety. The median STAI-Y anxiety score decreased from 37.5 to 26.0 (p<0.05; r=0.73). Median ESAS-r scores decreased from 27.0 to 15.5 overall (r=0.37), from 16.5 to 12.0 for the physical subscale (r=-0.21), and from 5.5 to 2.5 for the emotional subscale (r=-0.48). In the distribution of anxiety levels, the low category increased from 50% to 80%, the moderate category decreased from 30% to 20%, and the high category was reported as 20% before VR. The mean perceived safety score was 0.9 (standard deviation 1.9; a score of 0 indicated very safe), mean satisfaction was 7.7 (standard deviation 2.3), and mean SUS usability was 78.2 (standard deviation 14.9). In conclusion, a brief VR session appeared feasible in end-of-life care and was associated with reductions in anxiety and symptom burden. Although the poster was labeled as a systematic review, the data presented came from a small-sample, single-group intervention with pre- and post-intervention measurements.

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