Effects of Virtual Reality Meditation in Older Adults

Effects of Virtual Reality Meditation in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Virtual reality (VR) allows users to interact within a simulated environment using electronic devices such as a VR headset or goggles. Multiple studies with younger adults have demonstrated that VR meditation can be an important tool in reducing stress, however, this has not been studied in older adults. In this study, the investigators aim to assess the effects of a 4-week program of 15-minutes sessions, twice per week of meditation delivered through VR with the aim of evaluating its impact on stress in older adults.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Stress; Older Adults; Mental Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: VR Meditation

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 30
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Montréal, Canada
    • Lady Davis Institute/ Jewish General Hospital
  • Quebec
    • Montréal, Quebec, Canada, H4H 1R3
      • Douglas Mental Health University Institute

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 60 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Living in the Greater Montreal area and able to speak English or French
• Perceived Stress Score (PSS)equal or greater than 10
• Over >=60 years of age

Exclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis of epilepsy, schizophrenia, brain tumor
• History of recurrent migraines or seizures or TBI in the past year
• Substance use disorders in the last year
• Psychiatric hospitalizations in the last year.
• Acute psychotic symptoms
• Acute suicidal ideation or intent
• Glaucoma
• PTSD
• Changes to psychoactive medications in the past 4 weeks
• Alcohol, caffeine or cannabis consumption within 24 hr before the session, or nicotine consumption within 15 min of the session
• Important hearing impairment
• Recovery phase of any eye surgery

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention: Virtual Reality Mindfulness Group; The intervention will be 4-weeks, twice per week, 15-minute/session VR-mindfulness intervention group.	Behavioral: VR Meditation; This 4-week VR program will use the Oculus Pro-Quest 2 headsets for the 15-minute seated VR meditation twice per week for a total of 8 sessions over the 4 weeks.
No Intervention: No intervention: Waitlist Control Group; These participants will be on a waitlist to receive the VR guided meditation program after data collection has been completed (after the 4 weeks)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in stress scores as measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) for treatment group versus control group	To assess the effectiveness of the virtual reality meditation program in reducing stress in older adults. Scores on the PSS can range from 0-40, with higher scores indicating higher perceived stress.	Baseline, Once weekly during intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in symptoms of anxiety as measured by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) questionnaire for treatment group versus control group	To assess the effects of the virtual reality meditation program on symptoms of anxiety in older adults. Scores on the GAD-7 range from 0-21, with higher scores indicating more severe anxiety.	Baseline, Once weekly during intervention
Changes in symptoms of depression as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale for treatment group versus control group	To assess the effects of the virtual reality meditation program on symptoms of depression in older adults. Scores on the PHQ-9 can range from 0-27, with higher scores indicating more severe depression.	Baseline, Once weekly during intervention

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in symptoms of mindfulness skills	To assess the effects of the virtual reality meditation program on mindfulness skills in older adults. Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire - Short Form (FFMQ-SF) is a 24-item scale that is used to assess whether mindfulness is related to a decrease in clinical symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress.	Baseline, Once weekly during intervention
Qualitative Component: Participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group with participants.	Qualitative interviews to examine users' experience of the virtual reality meditation program. We will conduct qualitative evaluations through participant observation and semi-structured interviews and a focus group with participants. The qualitative part of the study will analyze service users' experience, engagement, and challenges throughout the study. Participant observation will be used to provide a context for the interviews. It will also help to observe clients' engagement, usage, expressions, physical movements, and barriers.	Post intervention (4-weeks)
Changes in simulator sickness as measured by the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire	To assess participants' acceptability of the virtual reality guided meditation program. Simulator Sickness Questionnaire is a 16-item scale that is widely used to assess simulator sickness.	Baseline, Once weekly during intervention
Changes in loneliness sentiments as measured by the University of California-3 (UCLA-3) item loneliness questionnaire	To assess the effects of the virtual reality meditation program on feelings of loneliness measured through the University of California-3 (UCLA 3-item) loneliness scale. The Three-Item Loneliness Scale is an interviewer-administered questionnaire developed from the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale. Each question is rated on a 3-point scale: 1 = Hardly Ever; 2 = Some of the Time; 3 = Often. All items are summed to give a total score. Higher scores indicate greater feelings of loneliness	Baseline, Once weekly during intervention
Changes in symptoms of sleep quality as measured by the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS)	To assess the effects of the virtual reality meditation program on sleep quality in older adults. Each item is rated on a 4-point numerical rating scale (NRS; where 0= no problem at all and 3= very serious problem). Total scores range from 0 to 24 in the AIS-8 and from 0 to 15 in the AIS-5. Higher scores in these AIS measures indicate that responders have severe insomnia symptoms.	Baseline, Once weekly during intervention
Changes in symptoms of quality of life in older adults as measured by the European Quality of Life (Euro-QoL) measure.	To assess the effects of the virtual reality meditation program on quality of life in older adults. Descriptive data from the 5 dimensions of Part I can be used to generate a health-related quality of life profile for the subject. Part II is scored from 0 (worst health state imaginable) to 100 (best health state imaginable). The score from Part II can be used to track changes in health, on an individual or group level, over time (McDowell & Newell, 1996).	Baseline, Once weekly during intervention
Changes in sense of presence as measured by the ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory	The ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory is a self-report presence measure to evaluate experiential aspects of immersive technology.	Baseline, Once weekly during intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Lady Davis Institute

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 30, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 1, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 11, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 29, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): April 7, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 11, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 6, 2025
• Last Verified: March 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Stress; Mindfulness; Meditation; Older adults; Virtual reality
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: IUSMD-21-48

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No