Virtual Reality as an Adjunct to Management of Pain and Anxiety in Palliative Care

NCT04138095 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: RiverviewHC
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 8
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Virtual reality has been shown to be an effective way to treat pain and anxiety in various different settings. Palliative care is an area of medicine that often deals with patients suffering from pain and anxiety. The medication used to manage these symptoms are often opioids and benzodiazepines due to their rapid onset however they do have a significant side effect burden on patients. Very few studies have looked at the effect of virtual reality in this patient population. The goal of this study is to measure if virtual reality can decrease the required amount of medication used in managing pain and anxiety in palliative care. The secondary outcome will look at perceived benefit by patients

Conditions

Cancer; Heart Failure; Copd; ALS

Keywords

Palliative Care; Virtual Reality; Pain; Anxiety

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Opioid and Benzodiazepine use

  Number of additional doses of opioids and benzodiazepines used on standard of care days will be compared to additional doses of opioids and benzodiazepines used on standard of care and virtual reality days

  10 days

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Patient perception of benefit

  10 days

Study Arms (1)

Virtual Reality

OTHER

As this is a within subject design, participants will act as their own control. Participants will have access to their baseline opioids and benzodiazepines for pain and anxiety. Every second day they will have access to virtual reality as an adjunct to their opioids and benzodiazepines to manage their symptoms

Device: Virtual Reality

Interventions

Virtual Reality DEVICE

Participants will have access to an Oculus Quest Virtual Reality Headset every second day as an alternative to opioids for pain management and benzodiazepines for anxiety management

Virtual Reality

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Enrolled on the palliative care program and admitted to Riverview Health Centre Palliative Care unit
• Using 2 or more doses above their regular scheduled dose of opioids and/or benzodiazepines
• Reading/understanding fluency in English

You may not qualify if:

• Patients who cannot wear the headset due to a structural cause (i.e. head and neck malignancy making wearing headset uncomfortable
• Patients who are legally blind
• Participants who cannot tolerate the HMD and VR due to simulator sickness will have to be withdrawn from the study by the investigator.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Riverview Health Centre: lead
• Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation: collaborator
• Riverview Health Centre Foundation: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Riverview Health Centre

Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3L2P4, Canada

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Neoplasms; Heart Failure; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive; Pain; Anxiety Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Heart Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Lung Diseases, Obstructive; Lung Diseases; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Chronic Disease; Disease Attributes; Pathologic Processes; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Neurologic Manifestations; Signs and Symptoms; Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Stefan Riel, MD

  University of Manitoba Palliative Care Program

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Stefan Riel, MD

CONTACT

204-803-5051; sriel@wrha.mb.ca

Zahra Moussavi, PhD

CONTACT

204-474-7023; Zahra.Moussavi@Umanitoba.ca

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Family Physician and Palliative Care Fellow

Model Details: Within subject design

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 22, 2019
• First Posted: October 24, 2019
• Study Start: October 1, 2020
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2020
• Study Completion: March 30, 2021
• Last Updated: March 10, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-03

Locations

CA (1)