Assessment of Mood, Acceptance of Illness, and Quality of Life in Dialysis Patients Undergoing Relaxation Therapy Using Virtual Reality

Background/Objectives: Regular dialysis sessions impose a fixed schedule on the patient’s days and weeks; this can lead to negative emotions, low mood, helplessness, and a lack of control over their treatment, which significantly reduces the quality of life for these patients. The aim of this study was to assess the mood, level of illness acceptance, and quality of life among dialysis patients undergoing relaxation therapy using virtual reality (VR). Methods: Sixty hemodialysis (HD) patients were recruited for a single-arm study. A personal questionnaire as well as the AIS, PHQ-9, and KDQOL-36™ were used. After one month of the control period, 22 patients were analyzed and then continued with one month of VR relaxation therapy consisting of 360° scenarios or 2D landscape movies. Finally, 16 patients were analyzed for the outcomes during dialysis, three times a week. Results: The data analysis showed a small significant increase in AIS scores after the VR therapy. In the PHQ-9, slight significant reductions in scores were observed at the end of VR therapy. Analysis of the Physical Component Summary (PCS), but not for Mental Component Summary (MCS), results showed statistically significant increases after VR therapy. Conclusions: The study group of dialysis patients showed small but significant improvements in mood, disease acceptance, and quality of life. The VR therapy intervention may be a useful complementary tool to comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation for hemodialysis patients, but multi-center studies are needed for a larger group of patients.