Mindfulness practice through a single option of virtual reality experienced during the antineoplastic chemotherapy infusion session. (A convenience sampling.)

To our knowledge, no studies have evaluated the effectiveness of a mindfulness intervention delivered through electronic vectors in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. To examine the effectiveness of a mindfulness intervention dispensed by a virtual reality device or an audio track in patients undergoing chemotherapy on mood and psychological status compared to patients on chemotherapy infusion as per normal clinical practice. Ninety-nine participants were assigned on a weekly access basis into one of three groups: Group 1, received a single mindfulness intervention during their chemotherapy infusion, through a virtual reality device; Group 2, received the mindfulness intervention through a recorded audio; Group 3, treated as normal clinical practice. At baseline patients completed the Distress Screening Schedule, and a moods semantic differential scale, and immediately after the infusion, the Toronto Mindfulness Scale. In the group 1, mindfulness showed a significant and negative association with post-intervention anxiety measure. The findings highlight a difference between the two intervention modalities. In the audio group, neither baseline anxiety nor mindfulness significantly predicted post-intervention anxiety. These results provide preliminary evidence for the differential efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions depending on the delivery format, and suggest that virtual reality may enhance the therapeutic potential of mindfulness practices by offering an enriched experiential context.