Treatment may be virtual, but the impact is real. Targeting insomnia with VR mindfulness

Abstract

Introduction: Insomnia is associated with a substantial societal burden. Available treatments, show effectiveness but are not always available or suitable. Virtual Reality (VR) is an increasingly affordable, accessible, and scalable tool. Therapeutic VR is being evaluated as a treatment delivery tool for a range of disorders but has not been evaluated directly for the treatment of insomnia.   This research aims to (1) Assess attitudes and opinions of clinicians and those with insomnia towards the acceptability of VR delivered mindfulness and identify practical barriers and steps for the use of VR technology in this context.   Methods and Results: A mixed methods approach including self-report survey data on familiarity with digital health technologies and a single 2-hour in-person focus group. Recorded discussions using group-specific topics were recorded and transcribed.   Lack of familiarity with technology is a known barrier to the adoption. To evaluate the impact of exposure to VR mindfulness on attitudes and opinions, participants rated their level of confidence in VR mindfulness as an effective and useful tool for insomnia before and after participants individually explored 4 VR mindfulness apps. Interacting with VR mindfulness positively changed the attitudes and opinions of clinicians and individuals with insomnia towards the potential effectiveness and usefulness of VR as a tool to deliver insomnia treatment. Barriers to clinical implementation and user adoption included usability, cost, and accessibility and funding, accessibility, and treatment guidelines key facilitators.   Conclusions: These results suggest an evaluation of the feasibility of VR mindfulness to deliver treatment for chronic insomnia is warranted.