Abstract

The objective of this study was to test the premise that virtual reality, as a developmentally appropriate distraction intervention, mitigates chemotherapy related symptom distress in older children with cancer aged 10-17. For this study the subjects wore a commercially available head set which projected an image with corresponding sounds. The sense of touch was involved through use of a computer mouse. A synthesis of Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) stress and coping theoretical framework and a model of the self-sustaining process in adolescents (Hinds & Martin, 1988) was used to guide the study. An interrupted time series design with removed treatment was used to answer the following research questions: (1) Is virtual reality an effective distraction intervention for reducing chemotherapy related symptom distress in children? and (2) Does virtual reality have a lasting effect? Hypotheses: (1) There will be differences in measures of symptom distress in a single group of children with cancer who receive a virtual reality distraction intervention during the second chemotherapy treatment and who receive no virtual reality intervention during the first and third chemotherapy treatments, and (2) There will be differences in measures of symptom distress two days following chemotherapy treatments, over three time measures in a single group of children with cancer who receive a virtual reality distraction intervention during the second chemotherapy treatment and who receive no virtual reality intervention during the first and third chemotherapy treatments.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 9835519; ProQuest document ID: 304469668. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Susan M. Schneider, PhD, RN, AOCN, FAAN

Sigma Membership

Beta Epsilon

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Quasi-Experimental Study, Other

Research Approach

Mixed/Multi Method Research

Keywords:

Patient Care, Chemotherapy Distress, Childhood Cancer

Advisor

Linda M. Workman

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

Case Western Reserve University

Degree Year

1998

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2019-04-01

Full Text of Presentation

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