Treatment of Parental Anxiety Virtual Reality (VR)

August 25, 2026 updated by: Thomas Caruso, Stanford University

Treatment of Parental Anxiety With Virtual Reality (VR): A Prospective, Randomized Study

The purpose of this study is to determine if non-invasive distracting devices (Virtual Reality headset) are more effective than the standard of care (i.e., no technology based distraction) for preventing anxiety in parental and pediatric populations. The study will be conducted in the general inpatient area, Emergency Department and Heart Center.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

485

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

  • United States
    • California
      • Stanford, California, United States, 94304
        • Lucile Parkard Children's Hospital

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

No older than 99 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Ages 18-99 (Parents whose children is hospitalized)
  • Able to consent
  • Parents whose child is undergoing various procedures at LPCH and Stanford Hospital and Clinics.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • People who do not consent
  • Significant Cognitive Impairment
  • History of Severe Motion Sickness
  • Current Nausea
  • Seizures
  • Visual Problems
  • Patients whose children are clinically unstable or require urgent/emergent intervention

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: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Virtual Reality
Participants will be immersed in a virtual environment. Calming scenery will be shown via the headset for 20-30 minutes
Behavioral: Virtual Reality headset with calming scenery
Participants will be immersed in a virtual environment. Calming scenery will be shown via the headset for 20-30 minutes
No Intervention: Control
No intervention (i.e. virtual reality headset) will be applied to the participant.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Anxiety levels (General inpatient area, Emergency Department)
Time Frame: Baseline, immediately after the intervention

Anxiety level measured by a Visual Analogue Scale - Anxiety (VAS-A) ranging from 0-10. Scale ranges from 0-10, with higher scores indicating higher anxiety levels.

Assessed in participants enrolled in both general hospital setting and specifically in the Emergency Department setting.
Baseline, immediately after the intervention
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory [Heart Center]
Time Frame: baseline, immediately after the intervention

The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) is a validated self-report questionnaire consisting of two subscales that measure state anxiety (temporary condition) and trait anxiety (general tendency). Each subscale contains 20 items rated on a 4-point Likert scale. Scores range from 20 to 80 per subscale, with higher scores indicating greater anxiety.

Assessed in participants enrolled specifically in the Heart Center.
baseline, immediately after the intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Anxiety levels (Heart Center)
Time Frame: Baseline, immediately after the intervention

Anxiety level measured by a Visual Analogue Scale - Anxiety (VAS-A) ranging from 0-10. Scale ranges from 0-10, with higher scores indicating higher anxiety levels.

Assessed in participants enrolled specifically in the Heart Center setting.
Baseline, immediately after the intervention
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (General inpatient area, Emergency Department)
Time Frame: baseline, immediately after the intervention

The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) is a validated self-report questionnaire consisting of two subscales that measure state anxiety (temporary condition) and trait anxiety (general tendency). Each subscale contains 20 items rated on a 4-point Likert scale. Scores range from 20 to 80 per subscale, with higher scores indicating greater anxiety.

Assessed in participants enrolled in both general hospital setting and specifically in the Emergency Department setting.
baseline, immediately after the intervention
Caregiver Device satisfaction scale (investigator-developed Satisfaction Questionnaire)
Time Frame: immediately after intervention

To evaluate the overall impact of device satisfaction, participants will complete the self-developed satisfaction survey containing 5 items. Participants will rank each factor on a Likert scale from 1 = not at all to 5 = a lot.

Assessed in participants enrolled in general hospital setting and specifically in the Emergency Department setting and Heart Center setting.
immediately after intervention
Caregiver-reported acceptability and tolerability of virtual reality (investigator-developed VR Questionnaire)
Time Frame: immediately after virtual reality intervention

Caregiver response to the virtual reality intervention was assessed with an investigator-developed questionnaire administered in English or Spanish after the VR session. Four items assessed relaxation, distraction, willingness to use VR again for a future procedure or hospitalization, and interest in VR; each is scored on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 ("Do not agree at all"/"No interest at all") to 5 ("Completely agree"/"Completely interested"), with higher scores indicating greater acceptability.

A final checklist item asked caregivers to indicate whether they experienced any of the following during the virtual reality experience, selecting all that applied: nausea, dizziness, headache, disorientation, eye strain, none of the above, or other.

Assessed in participants enrolled in general hospital setting and Heart Center setting.
immediately after virtual reality intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Stanford University

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

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 1, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 13, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

October 13, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 6, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 6, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

February 15, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 27, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 25, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 69068

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

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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