Restorative Virtual Environments for Rehabilitation 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Restorative Virtual Environments for Rehabilitation: Does Virtual Nature Therapy enhance sleep on the Intensive Care Unit?
IRAS ID
131346
Contact name
Charlotte Small
Contact email
Research summary
Sleep disruption is a common problem for patients on intensive care units (ICU). Sleep is an essential physiological process and sleep deprivation is likely to impair recovery and rehabilitation from critical illness. Patients report disturbed sleep as being one of the greatest stressors in ICU. The ICU environment has a number of detrimental effects on sleep, in particular the high noise levels and lack of familiarity and comfort. These lead to anxiety and stress, which can persist beyond ICU discharge. The priorities for the ICU environment are driven by the requirements to provide life-saving care and are difficult to modify without threatening patient safety.\nExposure to natural environments, both artificial and real, has been suggested to enhance wellbeing in well subjects and promote recovery in patients via relaxation and distraction. Virtual Nature Therapy (VNT) is a virtual reality-based reconstruction of a natural water and land environment (Wembury Bay, South Devon Coastal path) and provides users with multi-sensory distraction from their real environment and immersion in an engaging, relaxing virtual world. \nThe VNT system has been developed for use in the ICU environment, by conscious ICU patients. This study will assess the user experience, from both patient and staff perspective, in order to guide further development of the system.\nWe aim to provide participants with a graded exposure to VNT; where they will be able to exert greater control over the virtual environment, throughout the study. Our primary outcome will be assessment of the impact of VNT on subjective sleep quality when compared to usual care. This supported by data assessing impact on physiology during the intervention, including side effects.
REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/WM/0058
Date of REC Opinion
26 Mar 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion