Slide
Centre Interdisciplinaire
de Recherche et d’Innovation
en Cybersécurité et Société
de Recherche et d’Innovation
en Cybersécurité et Société
1.
Sheehy, L.; Finestone, H.; Bouchard, S.; Dezeeuw, K.; Doering, P.; Dunlop, N.; Sveistrup, H.
Immersive Virtual Reality Experiences can Decrease Pain and Distress in Patients Living in Complex Care Journal Article
In: Annual Review of CyberTherapy and Telemedicine, vol. 23, pp. 272–278, 2025, ISSN: 15548716 (ISSN).
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: adult, aged, article, chronic pain, clinical article, complex care, controlled study, discomfort, distress syndrome, female, human, immersion, male, Mood, nausea, Pain, patient care, quality of life, virtual reality, wound care
@article{sheehy_immersive_2025,
title = {Immersive Virtual Reality Experiences can Decrease Pain and Distress in Patients Living in Complex Care},
author = {L. Sheehy and H. Finestone and S. Bouchard and K. Dezeeuw and P. Doering and N. Dunlop and H. Sveistrup},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-105023893911&partnerID=40&md5=cf29113c44db0b13e00df2e34acbc141},
issn = {15548716 (ISSN)},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-01-01},
journal = {Annual Review of CyberTherapy and Telemedicine},
volume = {23},
pages = {272–278},
abstract = {Patients living in complex care (CC) frequently experience pain. The study goals were to assess the feasibility of using virtual reality (VR), and the potential for VR to impact pain, mood, and quality of life in two groups of patients living in CC, those experiencing acute pain during wound dressing changes and those experiencing chronic pain. Participants were offered 30 minutes of immersive, passive VR experiences using a Meta Quest 2 headset, 3 times/week for 3 weeks. Pain and mood were assessed pre, during and post each VR session. Pain, mood and quality of life were assessed before and after the 3-week intervention. Feasibility was assessed after each session. Three women (average age 66.3) with wound dressing changes completed an average of 3.7 sessions (25.5 minutes/session). Two-thirds experienced meaningful declines in pain with VR. Seventeen participants (6 men, 11 women, average age 58.4) with chronic pain completed an average of 3.1 sessions (21.4 minutes/session). Pain was significantly decreased from pre to post VR and pre to during VR. Mood and quality of life did not change. Both groups had low levels of discomfort and nausea, and high levels of satisfaction and immersiveness. Most participants enjoyed the experience and appreciated the immersion. It was challenging to adapt the headset to patients in non-seated positions who could not use VR controllers. VR is a promising modality to manage pain in patients living in CC. More work needs to be done to confirm the results and implement VR in clinical settings. © 2025, Interactive Media Institute. All rights reserved.},
keywords = {adult, aged, article, chronic pain, clinical article, complex care, controlled study, discomfort, distress syndrome, female, human, immersion, male, Mood, nausea, Pain, patient care, quality of life, virtual reality, wound care},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Patients living in complex care (CC) frequently experience pain. The study goals were to assess the feasibility of using virtual reality (VR), and the potential for VR to impact pain, mood, and quality of life in two groups of patients living in CC, those experiencing acute pain during wound dressing changes and those experiencing chronic pain. Participants were offered 30 minutes of immersive, passive VR experiences using a Meta Quest 2 headset, 3 times/week for 3 weeks. Pain and mood were assessed pre, during and post each VR session. Pain, mood and quality of life were assessed before and after the 3-week intervention. Feasibility was assessed after each session. Three women (average age 66.3) with wound dressing changes completed an average of 3.7 sessions (25.5 minutes/session). Two-thirds experienced meaningful declines in pain with VR. Seventeen participants (6 men, 11 women, average age 58.4) with chronic pain completed an average of 3.1 sessions (21.4 minutes/session). Pain was significantly decreased from pre to post VR and pre to during VR. Mood and quality of life did not change. Both groups had low levels of discomfort and nausea, and high levels of satisfaction and immersiveness. Most participants enjoyed the experience and appreciated the immersion. It was challenging to adapt the headset to patients in non-seated positions who could not use VR controllers. VR is a promising modality to manage pain in patients living in CC. More work needs to be done to confirm the results and implement VR in clinical settings. © 2025, Interactive Media Institute. All rights reserved.