Virtual Pain Care Trial

Virtual Pain Care; the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Therapy on Reducing Pain, and Anxiety During Complex Wound Care Procedures in Adults

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effect on pain of Virtual Reality Therapy as add-on therapy during wound care procedures in adults.

After inclusion and completion of the informed consent form, patients are randomly allocated to the intervention group or control group in a 1:1 ratio. Randomization will not be blinded since both the provider and patient know if the patient will be wearing the VR system during wound care or not wearing the VR system.

Patients are randomly assigned to one of two groups:

Group 1 - Intervention group 1, Virtual Reality Therapy Group 2 - Control group, care as usual

Inclusion Criteria:

• Individuals aged 18 or older with wounds receiving wound care
• Individuals who will undergo minimum of 1 to a maximum of 3 sequential complex wound care procedures
• At least 1 prior painful wound care procedure, where they have indicated a VAS ≥ 4, or patients reporting a VAS ≥ 4 before initiating the wound care procedure.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Individuals not being able to understand Dutch language at primary school level
• Individuals not being able to read or write Dutch
• Individuals diagnosed with dementia and/or cognitive impairment
• Individuals diagnosed with epilepsy
• Individuals diagnosed with migraine
• Individuals with severe dizziness and/or nausea
• Individuals with a known history of claustrophobia
• Individuals who are unable to sign informed consent owing to mental disorder or formally stated to be incompetent to decide
• Individuals who have no feeling in the wound care area
• Individuals with physical (and/or cognitive) disabilities on the face, eye, ear, nose and neck that prevent the use of the VR headgear and/or headphones