USING VIRTUAL REALITY MEDITATION TO REDUCE LEVELS OF ANXIETY IN WOMEN ON ORAL CONTRACEPTIVE BIRTH CONTROL
dc.contributor.advisor | Runyon, Ray | |
dc.contributor.advisor | Sternberg, Esther | |
dc.contributor.author | Mcgowan, Sophia Elizabeth | |
dc.creator | Mcgowan, Sophia Elizabeth | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2022-08-24T03:11:02Z | |
dc.date.available | 2022-08-24T03:11:02Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2022 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Mcgowan, Sophia Elizabeth. (2022). USING VIRTUAL REALITY MEDITATION TO REDUCE LEVELS OF ANXIETY IN WOMEN ON ORAL CONTRACEPTIVE BIRTH CONTROL (Bachelor's thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA). | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10150/665819 | |
dc.description.abstract | Twenty percent of women aged 18-39 who currently use oral contraceptive birth control report noted levels of increased anxiety since beginning use of the medication. There is a multitude of integrative medicine practices such as acupuncture, yoga, meditation, and dietary supplements that can ease symptoms of anxiety and stress which can be adopted into everyday life as an alternative to additional medication to manage anxiety. The use of innovative technology such as virtual reality allows some of these methods to become more accessible to a wider range of individuals and tailored to ways that are most beneficial to the individual. The Oculus 2 is a virtual reality (VR) device that allows users to download applications and immerse themselves in different meditation, fitness, and yoga virtual environments. In this preliminary study the meditation app, Maloka, was trialed to assess whether virtual reality can be used to ease feelings of anxiety with a focus on helping women with oral contraceptive birth control. There have been previous studies that have seen a strong correlation between low anxiety levels following the use of multiple head-mounted displays (HMD) virtual reality apps. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is a key player in responding to and regulating levels of stress and anxiety in the body. The Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine is currently researching sweat pore activity (SPA) using thermal imaging as a real-time measure of ANS activity in response to different stimuli. For this current study, a pool of 10 women completed a Qualtrics online survey inquiring about their perceived anxiety while taking oral contraceptive birth control and if they practiced any integrative medicine methods/techniques to reduce their perceived stress. The results of this survey showed that women on oral contraceptive birth control have subjectively more anxiety than when not on any medication. The use of a BIOPAC and Thermal IR camera was used to collect data for SPA, skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate variability (HRV) under the three types of stimuli 1) non-virtual integrative medicine techniques such as 4-7-8 breathing, a relaxation method developed by Dr. Andrew Weil 2) a Jump Scare VR video, and 3) a virtual meditation app via the Oculus. Originally this study was supposed to take place with a participant amount of 30 women on oral contraceptive birth control though due to COVID-19, it was instead beta tested with one participant who is currently on oral contraceptive birth control to see if her levels of anxiety were lessened using virtual reality methods. The results were supportive of the fact that an Oculus or other virtual reality device may have a positive impact and should be integrated into the daily lives of other people with anxiety disorders. There were steady levels overall of heart rate and lower levels of active sweat pores when the participant underwent meditation via the Maloka app on the Oculus. The goal of this study was to show that there should be more research and further experimentation to investigate virtual reality applications more comprehensively as a way to for not only anxiety disorder but all types of mental health struggles. | |
dc.language.iso | en | |
dc.publisher | The University of Arizona. | |
dc.rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. | |
dc.rights.uri | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | |
dc.title | USING VIRTUAL REALITY MEDITATION TO REDUCE LEVELS OF ANXIETY IN WOMEN ON ORAL CONTRACEPTIVE BIRTH CONTROL | |
dc.type | Electronic Thesis | |
dc.type | text | |
thesis.degree.grantor | University of Arizona | |
thesis.degree.level | bachelors | |
thesis.degree.discipline | Physiology | |
thesis.degree.discipline | Honors College | |
thesis.degree.name | B.S. | |
refterms.dateFOA | 2022-08-24T03:11:02Z |