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Outpatient VR (Virtual Reality)-Brain-gut Behavioral Therapies (BGBT) in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Outpatient Virtual Reality-Directed Treatment for Pain in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06910787
Enrollment
40
Registered
2025-04-04
Start date
2025-04-29
Completion date
2027-10-01
Last updated
2026-06-29

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

Conditions

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Keywords

Virtual Reality, Outpatient, Pain, Brain Gut Behavioral Treatment, Enhanced treatment as usual, Randomized

Brief summary

This research study is being done to learn if a virtual reality (VR)-directed BGBT program is feasible and acceptable for patients to enhance pain treatment for patients with IBD. The study hypothesis include: * the study will achieve greater than 75% program completion and 75% study assessment completion * patients with IBD will find VR-directed BGBT acceptable as an outpatient pain treatment * outpatient VR-directed BGBT in IBD arm participants will report a greater reduction in pain scores, symptom burden, stress, depression, anxiety, and pain-related interference and an improvement in health-related quality of life * will have lower opioid requirements and healthcare utilization at 4-weeks follow-up compared to the E-TAU arm

Interventions

DEVICEVR-directed BGBT

VR-directed BGBT using the Oculus Meta Quest 3 VR headset will be delivered using the Synergi application. The program includes 4-weeks of daily self-led activities using 5 virtual modules: (1) education (2) two interactive games (3) breathing exercises (4) gut-directed meditation and (5) gastroenterology-specific Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Participants will also receive standard care. On day 1, intervention arm participants will undergo a brief in-person or virtual (i.e., zoom or Microsoft teams) training with study staff to learn how to use the VR headset and access intervention modules. On day 1 participants will be asked to explore each of the program modules to achieve initial familiarity. Participants will be encouraged to use the VR-BGBT program for at least 15 minutes daily, but at minimum 3-4 days each week. Additionally, study assessments will be completed at baseline, 2-weeks, 4-weeks, and 8-weeks, with an interview within 1-2 weeks of completing the program.

OTHERE-TAU

Participants will receive standard of care, as directed by the participant's gastroenterologist. Participants will also receive an educational video and fact sheet on pain in IBD. This will be 4-weeks with study assessments at baseline, 2-weeks, and 4-weeks, 8-weeks.

Sponsors

University of Michigan
Lead SponsorOTHER
American Gastroenterological Association
CollaboratorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Intervention model description

Participants will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to Enhanced Treatment as Usual (E-TAU) or VR-directed BGBT

Eligibility

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

Inclusion criteria

* Adult outpatients (18 years and older) that carry a diagnosis of IBD and confirmed in the electronic health record (EHR) as receiving IBD-targeted treatment * IBD-targeted treatment include 5-aminosalicylates, thiopurines, biologics, or small molecules such as Janus kinase inhibitor (JAK) inhibitors or sphingosine-1-receptor modulators. * Self-report abdominal pain with an average severity ≥ 2 on a 0-10 pain scale over the last 24 hours, * Participants are willing and able to pick-up and drop-off VR equipment at University of Michigan (UM)

Exclusion criteria

* Patients that do not report pain (i.e., score\<2) as they are less likely to benefit from VR-directed BGBT * Patients with a history of conditions that could potentially be harmed by VR including seizures/epilepsy, loss of awareness, binocular vision loss, current pregnancy, or uncontrolled cardiac (e.g., arrhythmia, coronary artery disease) or neurological/cerebrovascular disease.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Feasibility defined by the proportion of enrolled participants that complete the 4-week VR-directed BGBT program and study assessments.4 weeksThe study team hypothesizes the study will achieve greater than 75% program completion and 75% study assessment completion.
Acceptability of VR-directed BGBT based on a semi-structured post intervention interview4 weeksThe interview will be done to understand the participants' experience with the VR-directed BGBT intervention and conducted using interview guides with open-ended questions. interview guides will focus on four main domains related to participant's pain history, experience with VR-directed BGBT (including tolerability and acceptability of each BGBT module), perceived impact (including information on any components that were perceived to be most helpful or ineffective), and suggested improvements for program refinement.
VR-BGBT acceptability using the Treatment Acceptability and Adherence Scale4 weeksThis is a 10-question scale that participants choose from 1 (disagree strongly) - 7 (agree strongly). Scores range from 10-70 with higher scores indication greater acceptability.
VR-BGBT usability using the System Usability Scale4 weeksThis is a 10-question scale that participants choose from 1 (strongly agree) - 5 (strongly disagree). Scores range from 0 to 100 with a higher score indicating greater acceptability.

Countries

United States

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORShirley Cohen-Mekelburg, MD, MS

University of Michigan

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jun 30, 2026