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

April 21, 2026 updated by: Shirley Cohen-Mekelburg, University of Michigan

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

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

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Active, not recruiting

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 (Estimated)

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.
40

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 Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Michigan
      • Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, 48109
        • University of Michigan

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

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.

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: None (Open Label)

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: VR-directed BGBT
Device: VR-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.
Active Comparator: Enhanced treatment as usual (E-TAU)
Other: E-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.

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
Feasibility defined by the proportion of enrolled participants that complete the 4-week VR-directed BGBT program and study assessments.
Time Frame: 4 weeks
The study team hypothesizes the study will achieve greater than 75% program completion and 75% study assessment completion.
4 weeks
Acceptability of VR-directed BGBT based on a semi-structured post intervention interview
Time Frame: 4 weeks
The 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.
4 weeks
VR-BGBT acceptability using the Treatment Acceptability and Adherence Scale
Time Frame: 4 weeks
This 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.
4 weeks
VR-BGBT usability using the System Usability Scale
Time Frame: 4 weeks
This 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.
4 weeks

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 Michigan

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.
American Gastroenterological Association

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: Shirley Cohen-Mekelburg, MD, MS, University of Michigan

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.
April 29, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

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.
May 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

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.
October 1, 2027

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).
March 28, 2025

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.
March 28, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

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.
April 4, 2025

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.
April 23, 2026

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.
April 21, 2026

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.
April 1, 2026

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.
  • HUM00267700

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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