17 / 22
Page 41
Notes:
allied
academies
17
th
International Conference on
4
th
International Conference on
NEUROLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE
&
MENTAL HEALTH AND PRIMARY CARE
October 16-18, 2017 | Toronto, Canada
J Neurol Neurorehabil Res 2017 | Volume 2 Issue 3
Modern technology and psychological well-being: VR interventions for the treatment of anxiety in
cancer patients
Konstantina Sokratous
University of Paul Valery, France
M
any stages of cancer treatment, as also the disease
itself, can generate stress and anxiety for a lot of
patients. According to the National Comprehensive Cancer
Network 47% of cancer patient’s suffers from anxiety.
Although chemotherapy can be very effective and sometimes
indispensable to treat cancer, a study showed that is directly
correlated to depression. Another study showed that
chemotherapy can cause anxiety and that anxiety is directly
linked to coping strategies, with high anxiety levels leading
to confrontation instead of problem solving strategies.
Preoperative anxiety is commonly present in ambulatory
surgery patients. Furthermore, the author demonstrated
that patients with high levels of preoperative anxiety were
more likely to experience physical discomfort and anxiety
postoperatively. In 1997 in France, 20% of surgeries and
48% of anal tumor surgeries were done in ambulatory. The
authors showed that these numbers were increasing each
year. VR interventions were used in the past as a distraction
to pain and anxiety. A systematic literature review of
controlled studies showed with solid evidence that VR is
an effective and feasible distraction, especially for reducing
pain. Moreover, studies have shown that VR interventions
have positive benefits and they promote wellbeing, as well as
decreasing negative emotional states. Similarly, other studies
showed decreased anxiety (measured by SAI) and decreased
symptom distress immediately following chemotherapy
with VR intervention. Therefore, our project aims to treat
preoperative and postoperative anxiety in ambulatory
cancer surgeries, as well as in chemotherapy, with the help
of technology trends and more precisely virtual reality.
Speaker Biography
Konstantina Sokratous has an Msc in Clinical Psychology and Psychopathology. The
current research project is under evaluation for an intra- faculty funding, as well as for
an external one for a phd. She has worked in Oncology services at the Gard’s Cancer
Institut in Nimes, France and she is currenty focusing on the promotion of psychological
well-being in cancer patients.
e:
cninasoc@yahoo.com