The Zen Garden virtual reality app for eating disorders: description and preliminary results

Virtual reality (VR) represents an emerging and promising tool to enhance standard care for patients with eating disorders. This small, uncontrolled, pilot study aims to provide a preliminary evaluation of the Zen Garden VR App in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). The primary aim was to assess changes in mood, relaxation, anger, anxiety and weight and shape concerns. A secondary aim was to assess feedback from participants about the VR experience, its components and its possible application for people with AN. Self-reported baseline and post-intervention data were collected from a sample of inpatients with AN recruited at the Eating Disorders Service at the Bethlem Royal Hospital of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Changes in clinical variables such as quality of mood, state of relaxation, anger, anxiety and weight and shape concerns from pre- to post-intervention were extracted, qualitatively revised and descriptively reported. Findings showed a global improvement after the VR Zen Garden App session, mainly in reducing levels of anxiety (Cohen's d = 1.07) and promoting relaxation (Cohen's d = 0.95). The music that was played during the intervention had a particularly positive effect. Despite promising and positive clinical implications, further studies are needed to confirm these preliminary results on wider samples of patients.