COgnitive intervention to Restore attention using nature Environment (CORE) study data

Abstract

The COgnitive intervention to Restore attention using nature Environment (CORE) study is single-blinded, two-group randomized-controlled pilot trial among patients with heart failure. The aims to test the preliminary efficacy of the newly developed Nature-VR, a virtual reality-based cognitive intervention that is based on the restorative effects of nature. The Nature-VR intervention group viewed 3-dimensional nature pictures using a virtual reality headset for 10 minutes per day, 5 days per week for 4 weeks (a total of 200 minutes). The active comparison group, Urban-VR, viewed 3-dimensional urban pictures using a virtual reality headset to match the Nature-VR intervention in intervention dose and delivery mode, but not in content. In this study, 73 participants with heart failure completed the baseline and randomized to either Nature-VR or Urban-VR. The target outcomes were attention, self-care of heart failure, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). After baseline data collection, 4 follow-up data were collected at 4, 8, 26, and 52 weeks.