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Virtual Reality for Pain Management Study

Virtual Reality for Pain Management Study

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT02997085
Enrollment
103
Registered
2016-12-19
Start date
2017-01-31
Completion date
2018-07-31
Last updated
2021-06-23

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Pain, Acute

Keywords

Pain, Virtual Reality, Opioid, Prescription pain reliever, Treatment

Brief summary

Virtual Reality (VR) is one non-pharmacological method that has shown promise as an effective means of decreasing pain levels following treatment, and for significant periods of time. Additionally, neurobiology studies of VR have demonstrated a decrease in brain activity associated with pain. While VR is clearly a promising, drug-free option for pain treatment, existing VR systems are expensive and use unconvincing graphics. Recent advances in VR technology (i.e., improved realism and immersion using 360-degree 3D technology and more affordable delivery systems) allow the development of more realistic and more cost-effective applications. Capitalizing on these advances and the investigators' experiences with VR intervention development and evaluation, the current study will test a state-of-the-art VR experience in pain management intervention (Live-Action 360° Video Virtual Reality(VVR)) and compare it to established standard computer generated imagery (CGI) 360° VVR content for pain management intervention in a medical setting. The participant's participation will help the investigators determine which VR intervention is most effective in reducing acute pain in hospital patients.

Interventions

DEVICELive-Action 360° Video Virtual Reality

360° Video Virtual Reality (VVR) is made by filming with multiple HD cameras carefully arranged to capture all angles in a 360° area of a live action event. Then those angles are stitched together in post-production into a 360-degree texture sphere and the sphere is then mapped to the head tracker on the users head mounted display (HMD). Leading to the effect that when a user turns his head, the user's view of the live action video footage turns with them in real time allowing the user to look around anywhere in the 360 degrees of filmed footage of the live action event. Participants randomized to the Live-Action 360° VVR group will be outfitted with a Samsung Gear VR HMD and will view a 9-minute live-action 360° VVR video. The 9 minutes of footage will be alternating 30 second clips of central Texas locations.

DEVICECGI 360° Video Virtual Reality

Participants randomized to the CGI 360° VVR condition will also be outfitted with a Samsung Gear VR head mounted display. Participants will view the same content for the same duration as in the Live-Action 360° VVR condition, but the footage will be animated instead of live-action footage.

Sponsors

Seton Healthcare Family
CollaboratorOTHER
University of Texas at Austin
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Between the ages of 18 and 65 * Reports experiencing current pain not typical of day-to-day experience during Pre-Treatment Pain Questionnaire at the onset of study visit by answering Yes to the first question of the questionnaire. There is no specific threshold of how much pain the participant must be in to be eligible for this study. The participant must be experiencing current pain that is not related to day-to-day, normal experiences (such as minor headaches, sprains, and toothaches). * Scores a 15 on the Glasgow Coma Scale and a 7 or above on the abbreviated Mini Mental Status Exam. * Patient in the acute and critical palliative care units, post surgical units, or acute care orthopedic units at University Medical Center Brackenridge in Austin, TX. * Willing and able to provide informed consent and participate in the study visit and study follow-up questionnaire.

Exclusion criteria

* Hearing or visually impaired where participant cannot use the Samsung Gear VR. * Does not report experiencing current pain during Pre-Treatment Pain Questionnaire at the onset of study visit. * Scores below a 15 on the Glasgow Coma Scale and/or below a 7 on the abbreviated Mini Mental Status Exam * Limited mental competency and the inability to give informed, voluntary, written consent to participate.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Post-Treatment Pain QuestionnaireImmediately following interventionThe Pain Questionnaire was used to assess the participant's pain prior to receiving VR treatment, following VR treatment, and at the ten-minute follow-up assessment. It was derived from the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and contains the Numerical Rating Scales (NRS) to assess the participant's pain as outlined by recommendations for outcome measures in clinical pain trials.The NRS was also chosen because it could be administered orally if patients could not use their hands to write or use the iPad. Scores start at 0 being no pain at all and 10 being pain as bad as you can imagine. Pain is current

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Follow-Up Pain QuestionnaireEvery 10 minutes for 40 minutes following intervention and 1 week following intervention. Meaned.The Pain Questionnaire was used to assess the participant's pain prior to receiving VR treatment, following VR treatment, and at the ten-minute follow-up assessment. It was derived from the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and contains the Numerical Rating Scales (NRS) to assess the participant's pain as outlined by recommendations for outcome measures in clinical pain trials.The NRS was also chosen because it could be administered orally if patients could not use their hands to write or use the iPad. Scores start at 0 being no pain at all and 10 being pain as bad as you can imagine. Pain is current
Presence InventoryImmediately following interventionSelf-report measure that assesses the degree of spatial presence, involvement, ecological validity, overall presence, and negative effects experienced during the VR intervention. Questions are asked on a scale of 0-10 with 0 being strongly Disagree and 10 being strongly agree. Spatial presence has a total of 3 questions for a total score of 30, and higher values mean increased spatial prescence. Ecological Validity has a total of 4 questions for a total score of 40 and higher values mean increased ecological validity. Higher for these two subscales indicate a better outcome. Negative Effects has a total of 4 questions for a total score of 40, and higher values mean more negative effects. Higher scores for this subscale indicate a worse outcome. Questions on the scale are summed.
Absorption SurveyImmediately after interventionSelf-report measure that assesses participant engagement with the virtual world. Questions are asked on a scale of 0-10 with 0 being strongly Disagree and 10 being strongly agree. There are 12 questions with a total score of 120. Higher scores indicate a better outcome and increased participant engagement.
Present Mood QuestionnaireEvery 10 minutes for 40 minutes following interventionThe Present Mood Questionnaire was used to assess the participant's current mood. The survey uses a labeled (0-10) NRS to measure the extent to which the participant feels sad, anxious, happy, and tranquil. It was administered at each of the three assessments (baseline, post-treatment, follow-up) except for in waitlist participants, for whom it was not administered at the final assessment to reduce participant burden. Higher values indicate worse outcomes for depression and anxiety and better outcomes for happiness and tranquility.
Attitudes Toward the Experience SurveyImmediately after interventionSelf-report measure that assesses the participant's attitude toward the VR experience. Questions are asked on a scale of 0-10 with 0 being strongly Disagree and 10 being strongly agree. There are 12 questions for a total score of 120. Higher scores mean a more positive attitude towards the experience and is a better outcome.

Countries

United States

Participant flow

Participants by arm

ArmCount
Live-Action 360° Video Virtual Reality
Live-Action 360° Video Virtual Reality: 360° Video Virtual Reality (VVR) is made by filming with multiple HD cameras carefully arranged to capture all angles in a 360° area of a live action event. Then those angles are stitched together in post-production into a 360-degree texture sphere and the sphere is then mapped to the head tracker on the users head mounted display (HMD). Leading to the effect that when a user turns his head, the user's view of the live action video footage turns with them in real time allowing the user to look around anywhere in the 360 degrees of filmed footage of the live action event. Participants randomized to the Live-Action 360° VVR group will be outfitted with a Samsung Gear VR HMD and will view a 9-minute live-action 360° VVR video. The 9 minutes of footage will be alternating 30 second clips of central Texas locations.
34
CGI 360° Video Virtual Reality
CGI 360° Video Virtual Reality: Participants randomized to the CGI 360° VVR condition will also be outfitted with a Samsung Gear VR head mounted display. Participants will view the same content for the same duration as in the Live-Action 360° VVR condition, but the footage will be animated instead of live-action footage.
35
Waitlist
Participants randomized to the waitlist group will complete all study procedures except the VR exposure. After completion of the study visit, participants in the waitlist condition will be given the option of viewing either the Live-Action 360° 3D HD VVR or the CGI 360° 3D VVR.
34
Total103

Baseline characteristics

CharacteristicLive-Action 360° Video Virtual RealityCGI 360° Video Virtual RealityWaitlistTotal
Age, Categorical
<=18 years
0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants
Age, Categorical
>=65 years
3 Participants1 Participants3 Participants7 Participants
Age, Categorical
Between 18 and 65 years
31 Participants34 Participants31 Participants96 Participants
Age, Continuous41.03 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 14.14
43.83 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 13.51
44.62 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 16.17
43.17 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 14.58
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Hispanic or Latino
7 Participants7 Participants6 Participants20 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Not Hispanic or Latino
27 Participants28 Participants28 Participants83 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants
Pain Questionnaire5.97 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 1.88
5.22 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.02
6.29 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.37
5.83 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.27
Present Mood Questionnaire
Anxiety
4 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 3.47
2.86 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 3.05
3.18 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 3.33
3.37 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 3.29
Present Mood Questionnaire
Depression
2.62 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 3
2.17 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.71
2.15 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.35
2.33 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.68
Present Mood Questionnaire
Happy
4.12 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 3.22
4.71 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 3.27
5.62 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 3.58
4.80 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 3.4
Present Mood Questionnaire
Tranquil
5.44 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 3.25
6.06 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.78
6.21 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.71
5.86 units on a scale
STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.89
Race (NIH/OMB)
American Indian or Alaska Native
0 Participants1 Participants0 Participants1 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Asian
1 Participants0 Participants0 Participants1 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Black or African American
5 Participants3 Participants6 Participants14 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
More than one race
0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
1 Participants2 Participants0 Participants3 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
White
27 Participants29 Participants28 Participants84 Participants
Region of Enrollment
United States
34 participants35 participants34 participants103 participants
Sex/Gender, Customized
Female
18 Participants12 Participants11 Participants41 Participants
Sex/Gender, Customized
Male
16 Participants23 Participants22 Participants61 Participants
Sex/Gender, Customized
Prefer Not to Report
0 Participants0 Participants1 Participants1 Participants

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
EG001
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
0 / 660 / 37
other
Total, other adverse events
9 / 667 / 37
serious
Total, serious adverse events
0 / 660 / 37

Outcome results

Primary

Post-Treatment Pain Questionnaire

The Pain Questionnaire was used to assess the participant's pain prior to receiving VR treatment, following VR treatment, and at the ten-minute follow-up assessment. It was derived from the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and contains the Numerical Rating Scales (NRS) to assess the participant's pain as outlined by recommendations for outcome measures in clinical pain trials.The NRS was also chosen because it could be administered orally if patients could not use their hands to write or use the iPad. Scores start at 0 being no pain at all and 10 being pain as bad as you can imagine. Pain is current

Time frame: Immediately following intervention

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)Dispersion
Live-Action 360° Video Virtual RealityPost-Treatment Pain Questionnaire3.03 score on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.3
CGI 360° Video Virtual RealityPost-Treatment Pain Questionnaire2.77 score on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.13
WaitlistPost-Treatment Pain Questionnaire6.37 score on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.23
Secondary

Absorption Survey

Self-report measure that assesses participant engagement with the virtual world. Questions are asked on a scale of 0-10 with 0 being strongly Disagree and 10 being strongly agree. There are 12 questions with a total score of 120. Higher scores indicate a better outcome and increased participant engagement.

Time frame: Immediately after intervention

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)Dispersion
Live-Action 360° Video Virtual RealityAbsorption Survey104.32 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 16.52
CGI 360° Video Virtual RealityAbsorption Survey96.2 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 18.34
Secondary

Attitudes Toward the Experience Survey

Self-report measure that assesses the participant's attitude toward the VR experience. Questions are asked on a scale of 0-10 with 0 being strongly Disagree and 10 being strongly agree. There are 12 questions for a total score of 120. Higher scores mean a more positive attitude towards the experience and is a better outcome.

Time frame: Immediately after intervention

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)Dispersion
Live-Action 360° Video Virtual RealityAttitudes Toward the Experience Survey74.35 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 10.93
CGI 360° Video Virtual RealityAttitudes Toward the Experience Survey67.51 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 16.49
Secondary

Follow-Up Pain Questionnaire

The Pain Questionnaire was used to assess the participant's pain prior to receiving VR treatment, following VR treatment, and at the ten-minute follow-up assessment. It was derived from the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and contains the Numerical Rating Scales (NRS) to assess the participant's pain as outlined by recommendations for outcome measures in clinical pain trials.The NRS was also chosen because it could be administered orally if patients could not use their hands to write or use the iPad. Scores start at 0 being no pain at all and 10 being pain as bad as you can imagine. Pain is current

Time frame: Every 10 minutes for 40 minutes following intervention and 1 week following intervention. Meaned.

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)Dispersion
Live-Action 360° Video Virtual RealityFollow-Up Pain Questionnaire4.2 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.32
CGI 360° Video Virtual RealityFollow-Up Pain Questionnaire4.14 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.72
WaitlistFollow-Up Pain Questionnaire3.7 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 3.04
Secondary

Presence Inventory

Self-report measure that assesses the degree of spatial presence, involvement, ecological validity, overall presence, and negative effects experienced during the VR intervention. Questions are asked on a scale of 0-10 with 0 being strongly Disagree and 10 being strongly agree. Spatial presence has a total of 3 questions for a total score of 30, and higher values mean increased spatial prescence. Ecological Validity has a total of 4 questions for a total score of 40 and higher values mean increased ecological validity. Higher for these two subscales indicate a better outcome. Negative Effects has a total of 4 questions for a total score of 40, and higher values mean more negative effects. Higher scores for this subscale indicate a worse outcome. Questions on the scale are summed.

Time frame: Immediately following intervention

ArmMeasureGroupValue (MEAN)Dispersion
Live-Action 360° Video Virtual RealityPresence InventoryEcological Validity35.06 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 7.69
Live-Action 360° Video Virtual RealityPresence InventorySpatial Presence25.79 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 6.99
Live-Action 360° Video Virtual RealityPresence InventoryNegative Effects1.09 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.23
CGI 360° Video Virtual RealityPresence InventorySpatial Presence22.18 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 8.97
CGI 360° Video Virtual RealityPresence InventoryNegative Effects2 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 5.68
CGI 360° Video Virtual RealityPresence InventoryEcological Validity25.62 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 12.09
Secondary

Present Mood Questionnaire

The Present Mood Questionnaire was used to assess the participant's current mood. The survey uses a labeled (0-10) NRS to measure the extent to which the participant feels sad, anxious, happy, and tranquil. It was administered at each of the three assessments (baseline, post-treatment, follow-up) except for in waitlist participants, for whom it was not administered at the final assessment to reduce participant burden. Higher values indicate worse outcomes for depression and anxiety and better outcomes for happiness and tranquility.

Time frame: Every 10 minutes for 40 minutes following intervention

ArmMeasureGroupValue (MEAN)Dispersion
Live-Action 360° Video Virtual RealityPresent Mood QuestionnaireDepression.7 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 1.45
Live-Action 360° Video Virtual RealityPresent Mood QuestionnaireAnxiety1.24 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 3.18
Live-Action 360° Video Virtual RealityPresent Mood QuestionnaireHappy6.52 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.54
Live-Action 360° Video Virtual RealityPresent Mood QuestionnaireTranquil7.7 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.3
CGI 360° Video Virtual RealityPresent Mood QuestionnaireTranquil7.62 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.71
CGI 360° Video Virtual RealityPresent Mood QuestionnaireDepression.85 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 1.88
CGI 360° Video Virtual RealityPresent Mood QuestionnaireHappy6.24 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 3.38
CGI 360° Video Virtual RealityPresent Mood QuestionnaireAnxiety1.21 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.27
WaitlistPresent Mood QuestionnaireTranquil6.56 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.65
WaitlistPresent Mood QuestionnaireAnxiety2.25 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.76
WaitlistPresent Mood QuestionnaireHappy5.34 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 3.39
WaitlistPresent Mood QuestionnaireDepression2.25 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 3.13

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026