Virtual Reality for Pain Management Study

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: Completed
• Conditions: Pain, Acute
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: Live-Action 360° Video Virtual Reality; Device: CGI 360° Video Virtual Reality

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 103
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

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

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• 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

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
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

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
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	Immediately following intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
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	Every 10 minutes for 40 minutes following intervention and 1 week following intervention. Meaned.
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.	Immediately following intervention
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.	Immediately after intervention
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.	Every 10 minutes for 40 minutes following intervention
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.	Immediately after intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Texas at Austin
• Collaborators: Seton Healthcare Family
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Mark Powers, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 1, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 1, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): July 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 15, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 15, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): December 19, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 23, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 1, 2021
• Last Verified: June 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Treatment; Pain; Opioid; Virtual Reality; Prescription pain reliever
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Acute Pain
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2016-09-0140

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO