Chemotherapy Gets an Infusion of Nature

From increased empathy to decreased pain, psychological and biomedical research data are building a robust case for tapping into the healing power of nature.

Oncology patients are impacted by many worries during chemotherapy infusions, including anxiety, travel to appointments, treatment side effects, distress and pain. In fact, 50%–70% of oncology patients experience uncontrolled pain and fear pain over death. Previous studies have shown that physical and mental distress levels can be reduced with consistent exposure to nature. In a recent pilot study, the CHN investigated whether a biophilic green therapy (GT) or virtual reality (VR) environment decreased the pain and distress of oncology patients during chemotherapy infusion.

In a private VR infusion space, patients utilized the Oculus Quest Head Mounted Display (HMD) and its Nature Treks software. The VR HMD is a stand-alone device with head tracking and a separate hand controller to allow interaction with the virtual environment. Patients wore the headset for 5- to 15-minute intervals, choosing any of nine different interactive nature environments. In the private GT infusion room, patients faced a large wall of windows overlooking a rooftop garden and scenic mural. The control room was a private standard treatment room with no windows, equipped with standard infusion equipment and a television.

Data collection of vital signs, saliva cortisol, pain and distress assessments, were done before and after the chemotherapy infusion.

The study, published in Science Reports and led by Renee Stubbins, PhD, was a crossover design, which means each case served as his/her own control and included 33 first-cycle oncology patients (breast, gynecologic, gastrointestinal, pancreatic and prostate cancers) receiving intravenous chemotherapy. While patient heart rate, blood pressure and self-reported distress levels were reduced after each biophilic intervention, these preliminary data did not significantly differ between the three groups. However, more patients reported the experience as “enjoyable” when in the GT or VR room compared to in the control room. In addition, 71.4% of participants reported spending at least 60 minutes outside since starting the study and over 90% of patients reported interest in the effects of nature on their health. These results suggest that biophilic interventions are safe and feasible and merit further study.

Over 90% of patients reported interest in the effects of nature on their health