Virtual Reality in Hemodialysis to Improve Psychological Well-being

The long-term goal is to create behavioral health technologies to advance the science that leverages state-of-the-art technology to delivery psychotherapeutic treatment to individuals on hemodialysis (HD) to improve their emotional well-being, quality of life, and overall health. The objective in this small R01 study is to design a virtual reality (VR) platform, that fully immerses users into a fictitious lifelike environment, to deliver an evidence-based positive psychological intervention and to test whether it improves the emotional well-being of individuals on HD with comorbid depression. In this proposed 2-arm randomized controlled trial, the investigators hypothesize that delivery of psychotherapy in individuals on HD using a VR environment will prove feasible and will result in significant improvements in depressive symptoms, quality of life, and treatment adherence, along with reduced rates of hospitalization when compared to an active control condition-all while serving as a cost-effective and far-reaching platform for expansive dissemination. The Specific Aims are: Aim #1: To develop VR software to immersively deliver the skills taught in a 5-week evidence-based positive psychological intervention in individuals on HD to improve their emotional well-being. Aim #2: To evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of a 5-week positive psychological intervention, delivered using a VR platform through consideration of rates of recruitment, refusal, retention, (non)compliance, and adherence. Aim #3: To test initial efficacy of the VR-based psychotherapeutic intervention, compared to a control arm, on outcomes of depression, psychological well-being, quality of life, treatment adherence, HD sessions missed, and hospitalizations in HD patients. Knowledge gained from completion of the proposed research will result in the first VR software application to deliver psychotherapy to individuals on HD, while simultaneously allowing them to leave the confines of the clinic and virtually travel to distant regions of the world. This new therapeutic approach can be used to successfully address the added burden of psychological distress experienced by individuals on HD, with the potential to positively impact their quality of life, engagement in healthful behaviors, and overall healthy longevity. And, these findings will yield data essential for a fully-powered trial testing important health outcomes and biomarkers in individuals on HD.

Hemodialysis (HD) is a taxing procedure with extensive illness burden and arduous self-care demands. As such, more than 30% of individuals on HD experience elevated symptoms of depression-and, research shows that comorbid depression is associated with adverse kidney disease outcomes, greater risk of hospitalization, and decreased survival rates. Current interventions to treat depressive symptoms in individuals on HD are resource intensive, infrequently administered, and often involve delivery of psychotherapy by highly-trained clinicians via multiple face-to-face communications. There remains a critical scientific gap for easily disseminatable and efficient strategies to improve emotional well-being profiles of individuals on HD in the U.S. and around the world. The objective in this small R01 study is to design a virtual reality (VR) platform that fully immerses users into a fictitious lifelike environment, to deliver an evidence-based positive psychological intervention and to test whether it improves the emotional well-being of individuals on HD with comorbid depression. For instance, during the module focused on mindfulness/meditation, the investigators will use a head-mounted display to fully immerse and transport individuals on HD to an open field beside a calming stream where they will engage in a 12-minute guided meditation. As such, the investigators propose to conduct a 2-arm randomized controlled trial in which individuals on HD (N=84) will be randomly assigned to receive either the JovialityTM VR-based positive psychological intervention or an active control condition (i.e., 2-dimensional wildlife footage and nature-based settings with inert music). The investigators hypothesize that chairside delivery of psychotherapeutic treatment in individuals on HD using a VR environment will prove feasible and will result in significant improvements in depressive symptoms, quality of life, and treatment adherence, with lower evident rates for missed HD sessions and lower hospitalizations-all while serving as a more cost-effective and far- reaching platform that will greatly expand dissemination. Knowledge gained from completion of the proposed research will result in the first VR software application to deliver psychotherapy to HD patients, while simultaneously allowing them to leave the confines of the clinic and virtually travel to distant regions of the world.