Virtual Reality Music in Geriatric Inpatients

St. Mary's Research Center, Canada

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Hospitalization; Older Adult

Treatments: Other: Music only control; Other: Virtual reality (VR) music intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06519253

2024-1020

Details and patient eligibility

About

Older adults, especially those in acute care require accessible non-pharmacological interventions, such as music to improve their mental health. Immersive 360 virtual reality (VR), is an innovative technology that has been found to be feasible, safe, and enjoyable by older adults. However, VR based music intervention to improve older adults' mental health has not been studied in acute in-patient settings.

Enrollment: 30 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 60+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age of 60 years or older;
• Medical stability to participate in the trial as determined by treating physician (defined as stable vital signs, absence of new medical events and deteriorating signs),
• Admitted to the GAU (5 north) at St. Mary's hospital.

Exclusion criteria

• Medical instability which limits ability to participate in the study (unstable vital signs, delirium, new medical events, deteriorating signs),
• Unablility to communicate in English or French,
• Behavioural issues/delirium that limit participation in the study,
• Those who have very severe dementia (using the Reisberg stage 7 which is defined by very limited communication ability, and dependence for all self-care
• Those without sufficient auditory acuity to undergo assessment and participate in the intervention, which affects their ability to communicate their consent for this study and to listen to music
• Ophthalmological conditions which affects their ability to participate in the immersive VR (recent eye surgery, severe macular degeneration, severe glaucoma, epilepsy and seizures, etc.).

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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30 participants in 2 patient groups

VR Music- Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Treatment Group: music intervention via virtual reality (VR) The music intervention aims to reproduce the experience of a musical performance. During the intervention, the participants will wear a VR headset which will give them an immersive experience of attending a virtual performance. During the intervention, the participants will be able to see the musicians (and the stage, empty auditorium, etc.) and hear the music. The participants in the VR intervention will be seated during the 15 minutes of intervention and the research assistant will stay at their side during the entire intervention. There will be no hand-help components to the VR intervention. Should the participant express any discomfort or have any questions/concerns with the intervention, the research assistant will be available and able to answer/assist the participants.

Treatment:

Other: Virtual reality (VR) music intervention

Music- Active Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

The participants in the active control group will listen, via a headband, the same music as the VR music intervention group. These participants will therefore not have an "immersive" experience as they will only hear the music (i.e they will not be able to see the musicians playing). The participants in the music intervention via headband will remain seated during the 15 minutes of the intervention. During the intervention, the research assistant will stay at their side. Should the participant express any discomfort or have any questions/concerns with the intervention, the research assistant will be available and able to answer/assist the participants.

Treatment:

Other: Music only control