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

NCT05310747 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 1811205
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 311
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

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.

Conditions

Chronic Pain; Social Disconnection

Keywords

Pain; Social Disconnection; Museum; Virtual museum

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Social disconnection

  Social disconnection scale; 12 items; scored 1 (not at all) - 5 (very much); range 12-60

  Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1

Secondary Outcomes (8)

• Pain unpleasantness

  Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1

• Pain intensity

  Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1

• Change in pain during intervention

  Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1

• Percent change in pain during intervention

  Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1

• Perceptions of the artwork related to the positivity of the social world

  Post-intervention (immediately)/Day 1

Other Outcomes (2)

• Museum visit data - User Movement

  During intervention

• Museum Visit Data - Object Interaction

  During intervention

Study Arms (5)

Artwork present + social connection high

EXPERIMENTAL

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

Behavioral: Artwork present; Behavioral: Social connection high

Artwork present + social connection low

EXPERIMENTAL

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

Behavioral: Artwork present; Behavioral: Social connection low

Artwork absent + social connection high

EXPERIMENTAL

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

Behavioral: Artwork absent; Behavioral: Social connection high

Artwork absent + social connection low

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

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

Behavioral: Artwork absent; Behavioral: Social connection low

Hanging control group

NO INTERVENTION

Individuals will receive no exposure to any independent variables (i.e. artwork: present or absent; social connection prime: high or low) for 10 minutes before completing their final survey.

Interventions

Artwork present BEHAVIORAL

A virtual museum exhibit with a curated selection of artworks

Artwork present + social connection high; Artwork present + social connection low

Artwork absent BEHAVIORAL

The same virtual museum exhibit space as the 'Artwork present' condition but with all of the artworks removed from the walls

Artwork absent + social connection high; Artwork absent + social connection low

Social connection high BEHAVIORAL

Participants will identify a person from their life that makes them feel socially connected and then write (1) about that person and (2) an experience they had with that person that made them feel socially connected.

Artwork absent + social connection high; Artwork present + social connection high

Social connection low BEHAVIORAL

Participants will identify a person from their life that makes them feel socially disconnected and then write (1) about that person and (2) an experience they had with that person that made them feel socially disconnected.

Artwork absent + social connection low; Artwork present + social connection low

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• 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

You may not qualify if:

• dementia
• adults unable to consent

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Davis: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of California, Davis

Sacramento, California, 95817, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Chronic Pain; Pain

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Neurologic Manifestations; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: TRIPLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Eligible individuals will be randomized to one of 4 groups: 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)

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 16, 2021
• First Posted: April 5, 2022
• Study Start: October 7, 2022
• Primary Completion: January 6, 2023
• Study Completion: January 6, 2023
• Last Updated: April 23, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)