Virtual Reality for Pain Management Study

June 1, 2021 updated by: Mark B. Powers, University of Texas at Austin
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.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
103

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Austin, Texas, United States, 78712
        • University of Texas at Austin

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

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.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Live-Action 360° Video Virtual Reality
Device: 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.
Active Comparator: CGI 360° Video Virtual Reality
Device: 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.
No Intervention: 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.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Post-Treatment Pain Questionnaire
Time Frame: Immediately following intervention
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
Immediately following intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Follow-Up Pain Questionnaire
Time Frame: Every 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
Every 10 minutes for 40 minutes following intervention and 1 week following intervention. Meaned.
Presence Inventory
Time Frame: Immediately following intervention
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.
Immediately following intervention
Absorption Survey
Time Frame: Immediately after intervention
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.
Immediately after intervention
Present Mood Questionnaire
Time Frame: Every 10 minutes for 40 minutes following intervention
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.
Every 10 minutes for 40 minutes following intervention
Attitudes Toward the Experience Survey
Time Frame: Immediately after intervention
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.
Immediately after intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Texas at Austin

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Seton Healthcare Family

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Mark Powers, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
January 1, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
July 1, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
July 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
December 15, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
December 15, 2016

First Posted (Estimate)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
December 19, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
June 23, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
June 1, 2021

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
June 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 2016-09-0140

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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