VR to Reduce Pain/Anxiety During Painful Procedures

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Phlebotomy; Gastroenterology; Orthopedics; Anxiety; Allergy; Radiology; Pain; Virtual Reality
• Interventions: Device: Samsung Gear VR; Device: Merge VR; Device: Oculus Go

• Registration Number: NCT04268901
• Lead Sponsor: Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Brief Summary

This study aims to test the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) as a non-pharmaceutical intervention to reduce pain and anxiety in children undergoing painful procedures in Phlebotomy, Radiology, Infusion, Orthopedics, Gastroenterology, and Immunology, amongst others, at CHLA, as measured by self- and proxy-report. Examples of the painful procedures include IV sticks, cast removals, allergy testing, and anorectal manometries.

Detailed Description

Distraction is a form of non pharmacological intervention for reducing pain and anxiety in children during painful medical procedures (e.g., venipuncture, IV placement). Recent technological developments in the area of virtual reality (VR) provide new and potentially more effective ways of distracting children from the pain and anxiety associated with medical procedures. While initial studies of VR pain distraction are promising, few have studied the effectiveness of the technology in children, using a multi-method approach. The current study aims to recruit 240 children ages 7-21 and their caregivers who arrive at the hospital for an outpatient painful medical procedure. Children and their parents will be randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: 1) existing hospital standard of care or 2) standard of care plus distraction via VR. Children and caregivers will be asked to complete measures assessing pain and anxiety both before and after the procedure. In addition, objective measures of child pain and distress during the medical procedure will be taken using coding of behavioral/verbal expressions. Univariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) will be used to compare differences in primary and secondary outcome variables in VR + standard of care to standard of care only conditions when pre and post-operative measures are available. Univariate ANOVA will be used to compare conditions on post-operative variables.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2016-02-19
• Study First Submitted: 2020-02-10
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-02-11
• Study First Posted: 2020-02-13
• Status Verified: 2023-10
• Last Update Submitted: 2023-10-25
• Last Update Posted: 2023-10-27
• Primary Completion: 2025-12-06
• Study Completion: 2025-12-06

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 700

Inclusion Criteria

Inclusion Criteria for Children:

1. Children who are 7-21 years old
2. Children who are English speaking (caregivers may be Spanish English speaking or Spanish speaking)
3. Children who are undergoing a painful medical procedure (e.g., venipuncture, IV placement, PICC lines, wound care, cast removal, botox injections) are eligible to participate in this project.
4. Only children who are in the normal range of development will be recruited for this study. This will be assessed by report from the parents. The rationale for excluding patients with developmental delay is that due to their cognitive impairments, such children react to the stressors of surgery differently than do children without such developmental delay. It is unclear how such children would use the interventions included in this study, and it is likely that their responses on baseline and outcome measures will differ from children of normal developmental parameters.

Inclusion criteria for healthcare providers:

1. Healthcare providers must be 18 years old or older
2. Healthcare providers must be Children's Hospital Los Angeles staff
3. Healthcare providers may participate if they have witnessed and/or administered the medical procedure

Exclusion Criteria

1. Children who are currently taking pain medication or anxiolytic medication will be excluded from this study.
2. Children with a psychiatric disorder, organic brain syndrome, mental retardation, or other known cognitive/neurological disorders
3. Children with visual, auditory, or tactile deficits that would interfere with the ability to complete the experimental tasks
4. Children with a history of seizure disorder.
5. Children currently sick with flu-like symptoms or experiencing a headache or earache.
6. Children with known or suspected motion sickness

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
VR Randomization	Samsung Gear VR	Children in the VR condition will undergo the invasive procedure while distracted by interaction with an immersive virtual environment (VE) presented via a head mounted display (HMD). The intervention group will receive standard CHLA treatment with VR distraction.
VR Randomization	Merge VR	Children in the VR condition will undergo the invasive procedure while distracted by interaction with an immersive virtual environment (VE) presented via a head mounted display (HMD). The intervention group will receive standard CHLA treatment with VR distraction.
VR Randomization	Oculus Go	Children in the VR condition will undergo the invasive procedure while distracted by interaction with an immersive virtual environment (VE) presented via a head mounted display (HMD). The intervention group will receive standard CHLA treatment with VR distraction.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Child State Anxiety Index (CASI) or Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) if 18 and older	Approximately 5 minutes to one hour before procedure	CASI is an 18-item scale that measures the tendency to view anxiety-related bodily sensations as dangerous (e.g., ''It scares me when my heart beats fast''). Items are scored on a 3-point scale (none, some, a lot), and total scores are calculated by summing all items. The CASI has demonstrated high internal consistency and adequate test-retest reliability. The CASI correlates well with measures of trait anxiety but also accounts for variance in fear not attributable to trait anxiety measures
Facial Affective Scale	Approximately 5-15 minutes after procedure	A faces scale to predict pediatric pain unpleasantness.
VAS	Approximately 5-15 minutes after procedure	VAS anticipatory anxiety measure: The VAS anticipatory anxiety measure is a vertical VAS, anchored with 0 at the bottom indicating the least amount and 10 at the top indicating the greatest amount, in response to the instruction to rate "how nervous, afraid, or worried" they were about the upcoming task. The scale also has color cues, graded from yellow at the bottom to dark red at the top, as well as a neutral face at the bottom and a face showing a negative expression at the top. Prior research used the VAS to rate anticipatory anxiety and pain in children.
Malaise Scale	Approximately 5-15 minutes after procedure	The MS is a six-point scale indicating level of nausea from (1) no symptoms to (6) being sick The MS is completed before and after administration of the VR game to monitor for any signs of nausea. Instructions to the child are as follows: "This is a scale from one to six. One means that you feel fine and no different to how you normally feel. Two means that you feel a little bit different or funny but not sick in the tummy. Three means that you feel a little bit sick and four means that you feel more than a little bit sick but not really sick. Five means that you feel really sick, like you are going to throw up or vomit and six means that you are being sick or vomiting. I'm going to ask you every few minutes how you feel. I want you to tell me which number from one to six best describes how you feel at that time."
Child Satisfaction Survey	Approximately 5-15 minutes after procedure	The child survey is 13-item, Likert-like survey to assess child estimates of pain reduction, fear reduction, decreased behavioral distress, and overall satisfaction; it mirrors the parent survey. There are two versions, one for each treatment condition. Two versions of the survey exist, to account for condition (VR vs. standard of care).
Parent Satisfaction Survey	Approximately 5-15 minutes after procedure	The parent survey is 16-item, Likert-like survey to assess parent estimates of pain reduction, fear reduction, decreased behavioral distress, and overall satisfaction. Two versions of the survey exist, to account for condition (VR vs. standard of care).
Healthcare Provider Survey	Approximately 5-15 minutes after procedure	The healthcare provider survey is a 7-item Likert-like investigator-developed survey to assess their estimates of pain and anxiety management, cooperation, and satisfaction with the procedure. Healthcare providers are also invited to write comments about the use of VR (if applicable) during the IV placement procedure.
Faces Pain Scale (FPS-R)	Approximately 5-15 minutes after procedure	Revised is an updated version of the Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale depicting no pain as a neutral expression as compared with the smiling face of the original measure. The child is asked to point to the face cartoon that depicts how they are currently feeling because of their pain. Face measures are thought to measure pain intensity, and the Wong-Baker Faces measure has demonstrated good reliability and validity.
Child Presence Questionnaire	Approximately 5-15 minutes after procedure	The Child Presence Questionnaire was developed out of a content analysis of the entire domain of adult presence items and selection and adaptation of appropriate items for assessing the child's sense of believability of their experience. This 16-item measure is verbally administered to children and asks them to respond according to a 3-point Likert-like format. Items assess the child's sense of involvement, realism, and transportation into the experience. Patients in the VR condition will complete the Child Presence Questionnaire post-procedure to assess level of VR immersion.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
CAMPIS-R	Peri-procedure	The CAMPIS-R is a standardized rating scale that codes videotaped verbal interactions in the pediatric treatment room. The CAMPIS-R codes the subject, speaker, phase of medical procedure, verbal content, affective tone, and to whom vocalizations are directed. Adult vocalizations are coded as coping-promoting (nonprocedural talk or humor directed to the child, commands to engage in coping strategies), distress-promoting (reassuring comments, apologies, giving control to the child, criticism, and empathetic statements), or neutral (humor to adults, nonprocedural talk to adults, child's condition talk, commands for procedural activity, praise, notification of procedure to come, behavioral commands to child, checking child's status). Two independent study team coders will complete the CAMPIS-R while reviewing the videotape from each of the I\&D of abscess procedures.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Children's Hospital Los Angeles; 🇺🇸 Los Angeles, California, United States