Can Exposure to Inclusive Virtual Art Decrease Pain and Social Disconnection Among Individuals Living With Chronic Pain?

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Chronic Pain; Social Disconnection
• Interventions: Behavioral: Artwork present; Behavioral: Artwork absent; Behavioral: Social connection high; Behavioral: Social connection low

• Registration Number: NCT05310747
• Lead Sponsor: University of California, Davis

Brief Summary

The proposed study is an experimental intervention to test for the effects of exposure to art by means of a virtual museum visit. It examines the fundamental question of whether exposure to virtual art can alleviate pain. Google Arts \& Culture has digitized the collections of over 2,000 museums, art galleries, and other cultural institutions. The platform is free and allows 'visitors' to explore art from around the world. For this study, the PIs have chosen artwork from this collection and created a virtual museum gallery such that research participants will visit the museum with or without art (i.e., we will remove all art from the virtual galleries). In addition, we hypothesize that individuals primed to experience social connection prior to art exposure will experience lower perceived social disconnection and pain than those who are not primed.

Detailed Description

Research Design: 2 (virtual artwork exposure: present, absent) x 2 (prime: social connection prime: high, low) factorial experiment with a hanging control group (4 cells plus 1 control group, for a total of 5 cells) and 2 repeated measures. A priori power analysis using G\*Power showed that the required sample size for a 5-group repeated measures experiment with 2 measurement times with 1-B error probability = .80 that expected small effect with a size of d = .10 and a significance level of p = .05 was a total of 305 participants (61 participants per cell).

Eligible individuals will be offered informed consent documentation via the StudyPages platform and then will be randomized to their study group:

1. Artwork present + Social connection prime high

2. Artwork present + Social connection prime low

3. Artwork absent + Social connection prime high

4. Artwork absent + Social connection prime low

5. Hanging control group - no exposure to any independent variables (i.e. artwork: present or absent; social connection prime: high or low)

Participants will fill out pre-intervention scales (pain intensity and unpleasantness; perceived social disconnection) prior to their virtual museum experience. Participants will then visit a virtual art museum gallery for 10 minutes or receive no exposure if they are in the hanging control group. In the artwork present condition, the virtual museum will feature paintings as part of an exhibition. In the artwork absent condition, paintings will be removed and thus the virtual museum will be empty. In the high social connection prime condition participants will be assigned to write an essay about a person and situation that made them feel valued, seen, and heard. In the low social connection prime condition participants will be assigned to write about a person and situation that made them feel ignored and not very valued. After 10 minutes within their condition participants will complete a post-intervention survey.

In addition, written responses to the social connection primes and museum visit data (e.g., user movement, object interaction, and perceptions about artwork in the museum) will be collected and analyzed.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2021-12-16
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-04-04
• Study First Posted: 2022-04-05
• Study Start: 2022-10-07
• Primary Completion: 2023-01-06
• Study Completion: 2023-01-06
• Status Verified: 2025-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-04-17
• Last Update Posted: 2025-04-23

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 311

Inclusion Criteria

• read and write in English language
• chronic moderate to severe pain (≥ 6 months in duration; ≥ 4 in response to the question, "on average this week my pain intensity has been?" on a 0-10 NRS)
• lonely (≥ 4 on the 3-item Loneliness Scale)
• access to an electronic device with internet connection in order to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria

• dementia
• adults unable to consent

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: FACTORIAL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Artwork present + social connection low	Artwork present	Individuals participate in an exercise to prime a feeling of low social connection and then explore a virtual museum exhibit with artwork for 10 minutes
Artwork absent + social connection high	Artwork absent	Individuals participate in an exercise to prime a feeling of high social connection and then explore a virtual museum exhibit with no artwork for 10 minutes
Artwork present + social connection high	Social connection high	Individuals participate in an exercise to prime a feeling of high social connection and then explore a virtual museum exhibit with artwork for 10 minutes
Artwork present + social connection low	Social connection low	Individuals participate in an exercise to prime a feeling of low social connection and then explore a virtual museum exhibit with artwork for 10 minutes
Artwork absent + social connection low	Social connection low	Individuals participate in an exercise to prime a feeling of low social connection and then explore a virtual museum exhibit with no artwork for 10 minutes
Artwork present + social connection high	Artwork present	Individuals participate in an exercise to prime a feeling of high social connection and then explore a virtual museum exhibit with artwork for 10 minutes
Artwork absent + social connection high	Social connection high	Individuals participate in an exercise to prime a feeling of high social connection and then explore a virtual museum exhibit with no artwork for 10 minutes
Artwork absent + social connection low	Artwork absent	Individuals participate in an exercise to prime a feeling of low social connection and then explore a virtual museum exhibit with no artwork for 10 minutes

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Social disconnection	Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1	Social disconnection scale; 12 items; scored 1 (not at all) - 5 (very much); range 12-60

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Pain intensity	Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1	Numerical rating scale (NRS) score of 0 "no pain" - 10 "worst pain imaginable"
Change in pain during intervention	Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1	Did you experience any pain relief during the museum experience? 1=Yes/0=No
Pain unpleasantness	Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1	Numerical rating scale (NRS) score of 0 "not unpleasant" - 10 "Most unpleasant sensation imaginable ("intolerable")"
Perceptions of the artwork related to the positivity of the social world	Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1	The artwork in the museum made me feel (7-point likert scale anchored by "Negative about the social world" and "Positive about the social world")
Perceptions of the artwork related to connection to the social world	Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1	The artwork in the museum made me feel (7-point likert scale anchored by "Disconnected to the social world" and "Connected to the social world")
Percent change in pain during intervention	Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1	If "Yes", what percent pain relief did you receive? 0%-100%
Perceptions of the artwork related to inclusion in the social world	Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1	The artwork in the museum made me feel (7-point likert scale anchored by "Excluded from the social world" and "Included in the social world")
Perceptions of the artwork related to positivity of social relationships	Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1	The artwork in the museum made me feel (7-point likert scale anchored by "Negative about my social relationships" and "Positive about my social relationships"

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of California, Davis; 🇺🇸 Sacramento, California, United States