Virtual Reality as a Intrinsic Motivation Intervention
October 31, 2025 updated by: Thomas Caruso
Virtual Reality Education for Hospitalized Pediatric Patients Improves Intrinsic Motivation: A Prospective Crossover Study
The goal is to explore the use of Virtual Reality (VR) as an intervention to increase intrinsic motivation in a healthcare setting.
The investigators would like to determine if an educational VR intervention in the course of healthcare could increase pediatric patient intrinsic motivation compared to standard of care (i.e no VR).
Study Overview
Status
Completed
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Detailed Description
While virtual reality has gained momentum as a therapeutic supplement to distract from pain perception and to reduce anxiety, it has received less attention as an intervention to promote more holistic psychological intrinsic motivation in the course of in-patient care. Child and adolescent self-reported measures of intrinsic motivation have also been looked over in favor of parent or practitioner measures of a child's intrinsic motivation.
To evaluate the effectiveness of virtual reality on child and adolescent intrinsic motivation while undergoing hospital care, the investigators will determine the effect of virtual reality to 1) increase pediatric patient intrinsic motivation compared to standard of care using educational virtual reality, 2) establish a comprehensive profile of short-term psychological well-being in school-aged children and adolescents following admission to a hospital. Participants will serve as their own control to either receive intervention on the first day or second day of the in-patient care and no intervention will be given on the other day.
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Actual)
158
Phase
- 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
-
-
California
-
Palo Alto, California, United States, 94304
- Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford
-
-
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
Ages Eligible for Study
5 years to 25 years (Child, Adult)
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Patients' age range from 5 to 25 at LPCH/SHC facilities
- patient who speak english only
Exclusion Criteria:
- Participants who do not consent
- Have a history of seizure disorder
- Currently have nausea
- Have motion sickness
- Are clinically unstable
- Currently using corrective glasses (not compatible with VR headset)
- Currently pregnant
- non-English speakers
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: Other
- Allocation: Randomized
- Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
- Masking: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
|
Experimental: Virtual Reality then Standard of Care
Participants will be randomized to receive the virtual reality intervention on the first day and receive standard of care on the second day of in-patient care.
|
During in-patient care participants will be randomized to receive or not receive the educational virtual reality intervention on the first day.
After two days, participants will receive a total of 10 minutes interventional in the morning (between 8am to 12pm) every day until their in-patient care concludes.
For case control, participants will service as their self control and be randomized to receive no virtual reality intervention on either the first day or the second day of in-patient care.
|
|
Experimental: Standard of Care then Virtual Reality
Participants will be randomized to receive the standard of care on the first day and receive virtual reality intervention on the second day of in-patient care.
|
During in-patient care participants will be randomized to receive or not receive the educational virtual reality intervention on the first day.
After two days, participants will receive a total of 10 minutes interventional in the morning (between 8am to 12pm) every day until their in-patient care concludes.
For case control, participants will service as their self control and be randomized to receive no virtual reality intervention on either the first day or the second day of in-patient care.
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Change in the intrinsic motivation
Time Frame: Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
Measured with six items from the modified Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) - Interest/Enjoyment Subscale.
The perceived interest/enjoyment is scored on scale ranging from 1 (Not at all true) to 7 (very true)
|
Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Change in educational self efficacy
Time Frame: Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
Measured with six items from the modified New General Self-Efficacy Scale.
The educational self efficacy is scored on scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)
|
Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
|
Change in current mental well being as measured by the modified WHO (Five) Well-Being Index
Time Frame: Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
The modified WHO (Five) Well-Being Index is a participant-reported outcome measure that assesses current mental well being.
Questionnaire contains 5 questions .
Scores range from 0 to 5, with higher scores indicating the corresponding feeling exists all the time.
|
Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
|
Change in the self-esteem (child)
Time Frame: Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
Measured with five items from the modified Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (child).
The self-esteem is scored on scale ranging from 1 (very true) to 4 (Definitely not true)
|
Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
|
Change in the self-esteem (Adolescent)
Time Frame: Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
Measured with five items from the modified Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Adolescent).
The self-esteem is scored on scale ranging from 1 (Strongly agree) to 4 (Strongly disagree)
|
Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
|
Change in the caregiver perception of the educational experience of the patient
Time Frame: Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
Measured with seven items from a modified Educational Experience Parental Survey Scale.
The caregiver perception of the educational experience of the patient is scored on scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree)
|
Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
Other Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Change in the Positive and Negative Affect feeling and emotion for Children
Time Frame: Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
Measured with ten items from the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children (PANAS-C).
The positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) feelings and emotions are scored on scale ranging from 1 (Very slightly or not at all) to 5 (Extremely)
|
Day 1(baseline), Day 2
|
Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
Sponsor
Publications and helpful links
The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.
General Publications
- Diener E, Emmons RA, Larsen RJ, Griffin S. The Satisfaction With Life Scale. J Pers Assess. 1985 Feb;49(1):71-5. doi: 10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13.
- Smith BW, Dalen J, Wiggins K, Tooley E, Christopher P, Bernard J. The brief resilience scale: assessing the ability to bounce back. Int J Behav Med. 2008;15(3):194-200. doi: 10.1080/10705500802222972.
- Duckworth AL, Peterson C, Matthews MD, Kelly DR. Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2007 Jun;92(6):1087-101. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087.
- Duckworth AL, Quinn PD. Development and validation of the short grit scale (grit-s). J Pers Assess. 2009 Mar;91(2):166-74. doi: 10.1080/00223890802634290.
- Kallem S, Carroll-Scott A, Rosenthal L, Chen E, Peters SM, McCaslin C, Ickovics JR. Shift-and-persist: a protective factor for elevated BMI among low-socioeconomic-status children. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013 Sep;21(9):1759-63. doi: 10.1002/oby.20195. Epub 2013 May 13.
- Lachman ME, Weaver SL. The sense of control as a moderator of social class differences in health and well-being. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1998 Mar;74(3):763-73. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.74.3.763.
- Kern ML, Benson L, Steinberg EA, Steinberg L. The EPOCH Measure of Adolescent Well-Being. Psychol Assess. 2016 May;28(5):586-97. doi: 10.1037/pas0000201. Epub 2015 Aug 24.
- Rosenberg M. [Consciousness from the viewpoint of electrophysics]. Psychiatr Neurol Med Psychol (Leipz). 1965 Nov;17(11):408-10. No abstract available. German.
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)
June 20, 2023
Primary Completion (Actual)
January 30, 2025
Study Completion (Actual)
January 30, 2025
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
November 22, 2022
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
February 2, 2023
First Posted (Actual)
February 13, 2023
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Estimated)
November 4, 2025
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
October 31, 2025
Last Verified
October 1, 2025
More Information
Terms related to this study
Keywords
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- 68166
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
No
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