AR Intervention Development for Head and Neck Cancer Patients

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Development of an augmented reality ‘recovery package’ to assist head and neck cancer patients’ recovery from surgery: a focus group and technology acceptance study

• IRAS ID

  263882

• Contact name

  Catherine Henshall

• Contact email

  chenshall@brookes.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Oxford Brookes University

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 9 months, 4 days

• Research summary

  Head and neck cancer survivors who have undergone surgical procedures often experience high levels of anxiety, with detrimental effects on their recovery, including increased post-operative pain and prolonged hospitalisation. This can negatively impact on patient care outcomes, resource use, service efficiency and economic costs. Augmented reality (AR), is similar to virtual reality and is an interactive experience of the environment, where objects in the environment are altered by computer generated technology to create new visual effects and images. AR is effective in reducing anxiety and depression in patient populations, yet it has not been tested on post-operative cancer patients.

  This proposal aims to design an AR recovery package for use by H&N cancer patients recovering from surgery. The study’s aim is interlinked with the following objectives:

  1. To gain insights in the post-operative needs, priorities, preferences and fears of H&N cancer patients and carers to inform the content of the AR recovery package.

  2. To gain insights in the post-operative needs, priorities, preferences and fears of H&N health care professionals to inform the content of the AR recovery package.

  3. To develop an AR recovery package based on the findings from 1&2.

  4. To conduct a technology acceptance study to assess how user-friendly the AR recovery package is to H&N cancer patients

  This study involves three stages:
  1) Focus groups with patients, carers and health care professionals
  2) Development of AR recovery package
  3) Technology acceptance study

  Findings may show that AR interventions can be successfully developed and informed by H&N cancer patients and clinicians post-operatively, as a potential method for facilitating their recovery. This could transform patient care pathways by facilitating a more effective therapeutic environment and reducing NHS expenditure as self-managed patient care is facilitated.

• REC name

  West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  19/WM/0223

• Date of REC Opinion

  25 Jul 2019

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion