Lifehouse VR study

Production Company: Start VR

Client: Chris O’Brien Lifehouse

Produced by: Ciara Hehir

The Chris O’Brien Lifehouse is a state-of-the-art cancer treatment and research hospital in Sydney. Their specialised clinicians see more than 40,000 public and private patients every year – concentrating all their efforts, learning, research and expertise into cancer care.

In a special collaboration, Start VR and Samsung Australia developed a ground-breaking study program, bringing virtual reality technology to patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

The objective: to help ease psychological stress and provide a form of “distraction therapy” during painful and often lengthy treatment sessions.

Patients were provided with Samsung Gear VR headsets and the option to select an experience from a catalogue of specially curated content. Experiences spanned a range of interests, ages and abilities; from relaxation and meditation experiences, to travel destinations, concerts, ocean adventures, and even interactive games.

Taking qualitative and quantitative data over the course of the study, from both staff and patients returned overwhelmingly positive results, highlighting a usage for VR in healthcare environments for both pain and stress management.