None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This study aims to test the effectiveness and acceptability of IRE technology in improving wellbeing, social inclusion and social connectedness of young people attending hospital. Building on previous findings the study will use a mixed method approach to: 1) quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of IRE technology in improving wellbeing, social connectedness and social inclusion using validated scales for these concepts and 2) expand the quantitative findings on social inclusion, social connectedness and wellbeing and ascertain participants’ experience with the intervention through semi-structured interviews.
Interventions
Immersive Reality Experience (IRE) technology will be used to connect hospitalised children with their school or home environments to minimise social isolation. The technology includes a VR headset at Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland and a camera at the distal location (home or school) delivered and managed by a research assistant. Participants will be recruited via their treating teams. Following the completion of consent procedures and pre-intervention measures, participants will ha
Immersive Reality Experience (IRE) technology will be used to connect hospitalised children with their school or home environments to minimise social isolation. The technology includes a VR headset at Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland and a camera at the distal location (home or school) delivered and managed by a research assistant. Participants will be recruited via their treating teams. Following the completion of consent procedures and pre-intervention measures, participants will have continuous access to IRE technology for a 6-week period, at the end of which they will complete post-intervention outcome measures and follow-up interviews. Participants will use VR headsets and the camera to see and hear their counterparts at school or home. No direct verbal communication with them will be possible as there is no microphone at the hospital end of the connection (a limitation of the current device's design). There will not be any restriction on use of devices or headsets by participants - this will be entirely up to participants (dose of use can be recorded via the device, but will not be limited). From the previous phase of this research, we know that young people usually use them from between a few minutes to an hour at a time.
Sponsors
University of Auckland
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Single group
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
13 Years to 18 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Children and young people with any medical condition, aged between 13-18 years and admitted to Starship Hospital for more than a 2-week period or intermittently over a longer period will be eligible to participate in the study.
Exclusion criteria
Those under 13 years of age, those with a physical or mental health issue that prevents exposure to IRE technology, and those not able to provide informed consent (or assent with parental consent) will be excluded.
Outcome results
None listed