Effects of videogame distraction and a virtual reality type head-mounted display helmet on cold pressor pain in young elementary school-aged children

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the effects of videogame distraction and a virtual reality (VR) type head-mounted display helmet for children undergoing cold pressor pain.

Methods: Fifty children between the ages of 6 and 10 years underwent a baseline cold pressor trial followed by two cold pressor trials in which interactive videogame distraction was delivered via a VR helmet or without a VR helmet in counterbalanced order.

Results: As expected, children demonstrated significant improvements in pain threshold and pain tolerance during both distraction conditions. However, the two distraction conditions did not differ in effectiveness.

Conclusions: Using the VR helmet did not result in improved pain tolerance over and above the effects of interactive videogame distraction without VR technology. Clinical implications and possible developmental differences in elementary school-aged children's ability to use VR technology are discussed.

Figures

Figure 1.

Medians and inter-quartile ranges for untransformed pain threshold and pain tolerance scores across experimental conditions (n = 50).