Virtual reality for the treatment of cancer pain

1) A postdoctoral fellow with expertise in chronic pain research with deliver both virtual reality intervention and control protocols at Greenwich Hospital (Northern Sydney Local Health District). 2) To account for circadian influences on wakefulness, all study interventions will take place between 10.00am and 1.00pm. We will use a randomised crossover design. One hour will be required to collect baseline information, administer questionnaires and familiarise the participant with the VR set-up. 3) The participant will then undergo two interventions in randomised order. Each intervention will be 15 minutes duration with a 60-minute washout period between interventions. 4) Concerning the immersive intervention, participants will use Oculus Rift ® headsets to view and interact in an immersive virtual reality (VR) application. Using an easy-to-use hand-held touch controller, participants are able to move around a summer meadow environment (Nature Trek VR®) using simple hand movements that govern direction and speed. 6) During the set up period immediately prior to the start of the intervention, participants will be shown how to control their movement and speed within the VR environment. During the intervention, researchers will supervise both immersive VR and non-immersive computer display experiences in order to ensure participants are using the handheld devices correctly and to help if they get into difficulty using the hand-held devices 7) In a subset of participants, during each virtual reality session, a 32-channel wireless EEG recording will be administered to allow analysis of cortical regions that may be involved in cancer-related pain. Linear and non-linear EEG analyses will be performed to determine relationships between brainwave changes, cancer-related pain and influence of virtual reality.