Breast Cancer, Cognitive Dysfunction, Virtual Reality
Conditions
Brief summary
The aim of this study is to test the efficacy of a nature-based cognitive intervention to restore cognitive function among women treated for breast cancer.
Detailed description
Cognitive dysfunction is a kind of cluster of commonly reported neurotoxic symptoms following cancer diagnosis and treatment, especially chemotherapy. Our previous studies found that breast cancer patients and survivors had greater difficulties in performing attention, working memory, and executive function tasks and had persistent neural inefficiency of an executive network of the brain than disease and treatment counterparts. The aim of this study is to test the efficacy of a nature-based cognitive intervention to restore cognitive function among women with cognitive complaints after breast cancer treatment. All participants will receive the initial screening to verify their cognitive status and then will be randomly assigned to the experimental or control group. The experimental group will receive a 4-week cognitive intervention by using a VR headset. Each VR content includes 10-12 video scenes with visual and auditory stimuli that were generated from nature.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALVirtual reality-based cognitive intervention
This intervention consists of 12 different VR contents that were developed for this trial. Each content includes 10-12 scenes with visual and auditory stimuli generated from nature. Participants will view 3D nature videos using a VR headset for 20 minutes every other day, three times per week for one month.
Sponsors
Chungnam National University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Age
19 Years to 64 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Being treated with chemotherapy for breast cancer * Having affirmative responses to three questions about cognitive problems and their impact on daily performance * Having FACT-Cog scores of 58 or less * Having Mini-Cog scores of 3 and higher * Having the ability to read, understand or respond to questionnaires and cognitive assessment * Being willing to participate and able to provide written informed consent
Exclusion criteria
* Having metastatic breast cancer * Having Patient Health Questionnaire-2 score of 3 and higher * Being diagnosed with neurological disorders such as dementia, multiple sclerosis, or traumatic brain injury * Having epilepsy or seizure * Having 'quite a bit' or 'extremely' severe level of nausea and vomiting * Having visual or hearing impairments * Having other problems that prevent them from wearing the VR headset
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Central Nervous System Vital Signs (CNSVS) | Cognitive function will be assessed at baseline | The CNSVS will be used to assess global and domain-specific cognitive function |
| Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Cognitive | Perceived cognitive function will be assessed at baseline | The FACT-Cog will be used to assess self-reported effectiveness in cognitive function |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) | Sleep problems will be assessed at baseline, 4 weeks (immediate post-intervention), and 8 weeks (4 weeks after intervention) | The PSQI will be used to assess sleep problems |
| Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F) | Fatigue will will be assessed at baseline, 4 weeks (immediate post-intervention), and 8 weeks (4 weeks after intervention) | The FACIT-F will be used to assess experience and impact of fatigue |
| Perceived Restorativeness for Activities Scale (PRAS) | Perceived restorativeness will be assessed at baseline, 4 weeks (immediate post-intervention), and 8 weeks (4 weeks after intervention) | The PRAS will be used to assess perceived restorativeness of their activities engaged to improve cognition |
| Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) | Quality of life will be assessed at baseline, 4 weeks (immediate post-intervention), and 8 weeks (4 weeks after intervention) | The FACT-G will be used to assess health-related quality of life |
| Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) | Depression will be assessed at baseline, 4 weeks (immediate post-intervention), and 8 weeks (4 weeks after intervention) | The PHQ will be used to assess depressed mood |
Countries
South Korea
Contacts
Primary ContactMi Sook Jung, PhD
Outcome results
None listed