Treatment Group: music intervention via virtual reality (VR)

The music intervention aims to reproduce the experience of a musical performance. During the intervention, the participants will wear a VR headset which will give them an immersive experience of attending a virtual performance. During the intervention, the participants will be able to see the musicians (and the stage, empty auditorium, etc.) and hear the music.

The participants in the VR intervention will be seated during the 15 minutes of intervention and the research assistant will stay at their side during the entire intervention. There will be no hand-help components to the VR intervention. Should the participant express any discomfort or have any questions/concerns with the intervention, the research assistant will be available and able to answer/assist the participants.

The participants in the active control group will listen, via a headband, the same music as the VR music intervention group.

These participants will therefore not have an "immersive" experience as they will only hear the music (i.e they will not be able to see the musicians playing).

The participants in the music intervention via headband will remain seated during the 15 minutes of the intervention. During the intervention, the research assistant will stay at their side. Should the participant express any discomfort or have any questions/concerns with the intervention, the research assistant will be available and able to answer/assist the participants.

The VR music intervention consists of musical performance which were already recorded. This is accessible classic music. During the intervention, the participants will be able to see the musicians (and the stage, empty auditorium, etc.) and hear the music.

The recruitment goals will be met (n=30) within 6 months, attrition will be ≤ 20% for follow-up. Intervention drop-out will be ≤30% (i.e. fail to attend 50% of the intervention), and VR participants will have <1 major technical issues

The intervention will be acceptable and well-tolerated according to the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ). The SSQ questionnaire consists of 16 symptoms including fatigue, headache and nausea which are rated from 0 (none) to 4 (severe). Cut-off for tolerability is < 10 over 64 years of age.

Participants randomized to VR will be willing to use VR again compared to the non-VR group. This means that they will have higher presences, according to the Slater-Usoh-Steed Presence Questionnaire (SUS) score 0-100, i.e. a significantly higher SUS score compared to the non-VR group. The intervention will be acceptable to patients and won't have an impact on the clinical load of the clinical team.

Compared to the non-VR group, the VR based music group will have a greater improvement in positive emotions using the Visual Analog Mood

Compared to the non-VR group, the VR based music group will have a greater improvement in well-being, anxiety and depression using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scales (WEMWBS)