Effectiveness of Fully Immersive Virtual Reality as a Pain and Distress Treatment Method as Compared to Standard Analgesic Treatments in Children Undergoing Painful Medical Procedures: a Systematic Review. (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evgenia Collins
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Pain Control ◽  
English Language ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Treatment Method ◽  
Paediatric Population ◽  
Medical Procedures ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Ovid Medline ◽  
Painful Medical Procedures

BACKGROUND Effective pain and distress management remains a challenge for the paediatric population during medical procedures. Virtual Reality (VR) provides pain control by immersing an individual in a multisensory, 3-dimensional, computer-generated environment, offering a non-pharmacological way of pain reduction during invasive medical procedures. OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness of VR distraction as a pain control method compared to standard pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods. METHODS A SR of the literature used PsycINFO, PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE(R) and SCOPUS databases. Studies were included in the SR if they used an RCT design, were published in peer-reviewed, English language journals. Participants aged 3 to 21 years old had to undergo painful medical procedures in hospital settings with standard care as pain management in the control groups and VR distraction in the experimental groups. RESULTS 205 records were initially screened, ten papers underwent SR. Papers were assessed using the PEDro scale. VR demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in anxiety and pain in the experimental groups vs. control groups, with a large effect size -.90. Results showed a large heterogeneity between the studies and suggested that VR intervention was more effective in those clinical trials that utilised non-pharmacological pain relief methods as their standard method of care in control groups. CONCLUSIONS Overall, VR distraction was effective compared to standard non-pharmacological pain control methods and can be used during painful medical procedures to alleviate pain and anxiety in paediatric population.

Virtual Reality as Distraction Technique for Pain Management in Children and Adolescents

2019 ◽  
pp. 483-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Atzori ◽  
Hunter G. Hoffman ◽  
Laura Vagnoli ◽  
Andrea Messeri ◽  
Rosapia Lauro Grotto
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Pain Control ◽  
Pediatric Patients ◽  
Medical Problem ◽  
Control Technique ◽  
Medical Procedure ◽  
Medical Procedures ◽  
Psychological Pain ◽  
Pain Medications ◽  
Fear And Anxiety

For a growing number of medical procedures, patients remain awake during the procedure, they feel pain during the medical procedure, and they remember the pain after the procedure is over. Inadequately controlled pain during medical procedures using pain medications alone for pain control is a worldwide medical problem. Having patients conscious and feeling pain during medical procedures is especially problematic in children who need repeated medical procedures, such as pediatric patients with large severe burn injuries. Because pain has a strong psychological component, a number of unhelpful psychological factors can unintentionally amplify how much pain, fear, and anxiety children experience during painful medical procedures. Fortunately, psychological treatments can be used to help reduce pain and anxiety. Virtual reality is one promising adjunctive analgesic. There is a growing literature showing the potential of immersive virtual reality as a psychological pain control technique that can be used in addition to traditional pain medications the patient is already receiving. The current chapter reviews a number of studies on virtual reality analgesia in pediatric patients, towards the goal of helping reduce excessive pain in children during medical procedures. The current chapter evaluates the effectiveness of VR during several painful procedures in pediatric and adolescent patients, its applicability, and the potential for wider dissemination of VR analgesia in clinical settings. The current review considers factors involved in the effectiveness of VR analgesia, such as the quality of the VR system used.

Virtual Reality as Distraction Technique for Pain Management in Children and Adolescents

2018 ◽  
pp. 5955-5965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Atzori ◽  
Hunter G. Hoffman ◽  
Laura Vagnoli ◽  
Andrea Messeri ◽  
Rosapia Lauro Grotto
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Pain Control ◽  
Pediatric Patients ◽  
Medical Problem ◽  
Control Technique ◽  
Medical Procedure ◽  
Medical Procedures ◽  
Psychological Pain ◽  
Pain Medications ◽  
Fear And Anxiety

For a growing number of medical procedures, patients remain awake during the procedure, they feel pain during the medical procedure, and they remember the pain after the procedure is over. Inadequately controlled pain during medical procedures using pain medications alone for pain control, is a worldwide medical problem. Having patients conscious and feeling pain during medical procedures is especially problematic in children who need repeated medical procedures, such as pediatric patients with large severe burn injuries. Because pain has a strong psychological component, a number of unhelpful psychological factors can unintentionally amplify how much pain, fear and anxiety children experience during painful medical procedures. Fortunately, psychological treatments can be used to help reduce pain and anxiety. Virtual Reality is one promising adjunctive analgesic. There is a growing literature showing the potential of immersive virtual reality as a psychological pain control technique that can be used in addition to traditional pain medications the patient is already receiving. The current chapter reviews a number of studies on virtual reality analgesia in pediatric patients, towards the goal of helping reduce excessive pain in children during medical procedures. The current chapter evaluates the effectiveness of VR during several painful procedures in pediatric and adolescent patients, its applicability, and the potential for wider dissemination of VR analgesia in clinical settings. The current review considers factors involved in the effectiveness of VR analgesia, such as the quality of the VR system used.

BET 2: Is virtual reality effective in reducing adult pain perception during medical procedures?

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 728-730
Author(s):  
Laura Olejnik ◽  
Terry Thach
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Pain Control ◽  
Pain Perception ◽  
Medical Literature ◽  
Medical Procedures ◽  
Clinical Question ◽  
High Quality ◽  
High Quality Research ◽  
Quality Research ◽  
Study Type

A short-cut review of the available medical literature was carried out to establish whether virtual reality was an effective method for pain control during medical procedures. After abstract review, fifteen papers were found to answer this clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. It is concluded that there is insufficient high-quality research to answer this question.

Psychotherapeutic components of commercially available virtual reality games (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Almira Osmanovic Thunström ◽  
Iris Sarajlic Vuković ◽  
Lilas Ali ◽  
Tomas Larson ◽  
Steinn Steingrimsson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Treatment Method ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
E Learning ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Unique Games

BACKGROUND Immersive virtual reality (VR) games are increasingly becoming part of everyday life. Several studies support immersive VR technology as a treatment method for mental health problems. There is however minimal research into the feasibility, prevalence, and quality of commercially available VR games on commercial platforms as tools for treatment or add on to treatment of mental health problems. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence, feasibility and quality of commercially available games related to psychotherapy on a commercially available platform. METHODS We performed a search for keywords related to diagnosis and treatment strategies of mental health problems. The search was performed during March 27th on STEAM (VR content and gaming platform). A usability scale was used as a tool to look at the interaction and usability of the games, the VR-UI-UX-8. The tool contains 8 statements about usability scored 0-10, 0 indicating “Not at all” and 10 indicating “very much so”. The score ranges from 0-80 with a higher score indicating worse usability. RESULTS In total, 516 hits were found, 371 unique games. After the games were reviewed, 83 games passed the inclusion criteria, were purchased and played. Majority of the games which were excluded were either not connected to mental health, contained violence, adult content or were in other ways irrelevant or inappropriate. The mean score for the games on the VR-UI-UX-8 was 16.5 (standard deviation 15.8) with a range from 0-68. Most relevant and feasible games were found in the search words meditation, mindfulness, and LSD. CONCLUSIONS Commercial platforms hold great potential for VR games with psychotherapeutic components. The platforms are only at the beginning of the development towards serious games, e-learning and psychotherapeutic treatments. Currently the quality and usability for clinical and at home applicability are scarce, but hold great potential.

scholarly journals Using virtual reality to treat aggressive behavior problems in children: A feasibility study

2021 ◽  
pp. 135910452110261
Author(s):  
Sophie C Alsem ◽  
Anouk van Dijk ◽  
Esmée E Verhulp ◽  
Bram O De Castro
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Behavior Problems ◽  
Aggressive Behavior ◽  
Feasibility Study ◽  
Treatment Method ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Treatment Delivery ◽  
Behavioral Therapies ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
Practice Time

Evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapies (CBTs) for children with aggressive behavior problems have only modest effects. Research is needed into new methods to enhance CBT effectiveness. The aims of the present study were to (1) examine whether interactive virtual reality is a feasible treatment method for children with aggressive behavior problems; (2) investigate children’s appreciation of the method; and (3) explore whether children’s aggression decreased during the ten-session treatment. Six boys (8–12 years) participated at two clinical centers in the Netherlands. Newly developed weekly reports were collected on treatment feasibility (therapist-report), treatment appreciation (child report), and children’s aggression (child/parent report). Results supported treatment feasibility: therapists delivered on average 98% of the session content, provided more than the recommended practice time in virtual reality, experienced few technical issues, and were satisfied with their treatment delivery. Children highly appreciated the treatment. Parents reported decreases in children’s aggression over the treatment period (i.e., between week 1 and week 10), but children did not. The promising findings of this feasibility study warrant randomized controlled trials to determine whether interactive virtual reality enhances CBT effectiveness for children with aggressive behavior problems.

scholarly journals Effects of Deformed Wing Virus Infection on Expressions of Immune- and Apoptosis-Related Genes in Western Honeybees (Apis mellifera)

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Wannapha Mookhploy ◽  
Sasiprapa Krongdang ◽  
Panuwan Chantawannakul
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Virus Infection ◽  
Treatment Method ◽  
Positive Control ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Gene Expressions ◽  
Deformed Wing Virus ◽  
Immune Genes ◽  
Viral Loads

Honeybees are globally threatened by several pathogens, especially deformed wing virus (DWV), as the presence of DWV in western honeybees is indicative of colony loss. The high mortality rate is further exacerbated by the lack of effective treatment, and therefore understanding the immune and apoptosis responses could pave an avenue for the treatment method. In this study, DWV was directly injected into the white-eyed pupae stage of western honeybees (Apis mellifera). The DWV loads and selected gene responses were monitored using the real-time PCR technique. The results showed that honeybee pupae that were injected with the highest concentration of viral loads showed a significantly higher mortality rate than the control groups. Deformed wings could be observed in newly emerged adult bees when the infected bees harbored high levels of viral loads. However, the numbers of viral loads in both normal and crippled wing groups were not significantly different. DWV-injected honeybee pupae with 104 and 107 copy numbers per bee groups showed similar viral loads after 48 h until newly emerged adult bees. Levels of gene expression including immune genes (defensin, abaecin, and hymenoptaecin) and apoptosis genes (buffy, p53, Apaf1, caspase3-like, caspase8-like, and caspase9-like) were analyzed after DWV infection. The expressions of immune and apoptosis genes were significantly different in infected bees compared to those of the control groups. In the pupae stage, the immune genes were activated by injecting DWV (defensin and hymenoptaecin) or Escherichia coli (defensin, abaecin, and hymenoptaecin), a positive control. On the contrary, the expression of apoptosis-related genes (buffy, caspase3-like, caspase8-like, and caspase9-like genes) was suppressed at 96 h post-infection. In DWV-infected newly emerged adult bees, abaecin, hymenoptaecin, Apaf1, and caspase8-like genes were upregulated. However, these genes were not significantly different between the normal and crippled wing bees. Our results suggested that DWV could activate the humoral immunity in honeybees and that honeybee hosts may be able to protect themselves from the virus infection through immune responses. Apoptosis gene expressions were upregulated in newly emerged adult bees by the virus, however, they were downregulated during the initial phase of viral infection.

scholarly journals Foreign Language Learning Gamification Using Virtual Reality—A Systematic Review of Empirical Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Rafael Darque Pinto ◽  
Bruno Peixoto ◽  
Miguel Melo ◽  
Luciana Cabral ◽  
Maximino Bessa
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Traditional Approaches

Virtual reality has shown to have great potential as an educational tool when it comes to new learning methods. With the growth and dissemination of this technology, there is a massive opportunity for teachers to add this technology to their methods of teaching a second/foreign language, since students keep showing a growing interest in new technologies. This systematic review of empirical research aims at understanding whether the use of gaming strategies in virtual reality is beneficial for the learning of a second/foreign language or not. Results show that more than half of the articles proved that virtual reality technologies with gaming strategies can be used to learn a foreign language. It was also found that “learning” was the most evaluated dependent variable among the chosen records, augmented reality was the leading technology used, primary education and lower secondary was the most researched school stages, and the most used language to evaluate the use of gamified technology was by far the English language. Given the lack of directed investigation, it is recommended to use these technologies to support second language learning and not entirely replace traditional approaches. A research agenda is also proposed by the authors.

Virtual reality as an adjunctive pain control during transurethral microwave thermotherapy

Urology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 1320.e1-1320.e3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan L. Wright ◽  
Hunter G. Hoffman ◽  
Robert M. Sweet
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Pain Control ◽  
Transurethral Microwave Thermotherapy
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