Files and links (1)
Lynn Nakad Dissertation Final789.91 kB
Embargoed Access, Embargo ends: 08/30/2026
Dissertation
Virtual reality distraction therapy for chronic pain management
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Summer 2024
DOI: 10.25820/etd.007733
Abstract
Chronic pain is highly prevalent in the general population and associated with reduced quality of life, health outcomes, and increased healthcare utilization. Due to adverse effects of opioids, especially with prolonged use, current guidelines recommend nonpharmacological therapies as first-line treatment for chronic pain, especially in combination with medication. Immersive virtual reality (VR) distraction therapy is a novel nonpharmacologic therapy that has been shown to effectively provide analgesia for acute and procedural pain in a variety of patient populations and conditions. However, only preliminary research has explored the use of VR distraction for chronic pain management. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the chronic pain experience in adults and the use of VR distraction therapy to help manage musculoskeletal and cancer-related chronic pain. A narrative review and two studies were conducted, including a mixed-methods exploratory study and an experimental study. The review characterized pain prevalence in older adults and examined the presence of multimorbidity and its relationship with and impact on chronic pain. It found that musculoskeletal pain was the most prevalent type of chronic pain and defined consequences of chronic pain and multimorbidity. The second study explored the attitudes and treatment acceptability towards the use of immersive VR distraction therapy of older adults with chronic pain. While it had high treatment acceptability, findings suggested the need to improve usability of VR and that future studies should focus on acute exacerbations of chronic pain. Therefore, the third study tested the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of an immersive VR distraction for breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP) in hospitalized patients. VR was found to be an acceptable and easy to use treatment and preliminary results demonstrated a reduction in BTcP intensity with the VR treatment compared to usual care.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Virtual reality distraction therapy for chronic pain management
- Creators
- Lynn Nakad
- Contributors
- Barbara A Rakel (Advisor)Stephanie H Gilbertson-White (Committee Member)Ann Marie McCarthy (Committee Member)Grant D Brown (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Nursing
- Date degree season
- Summer 2024
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- DOI
- 10.25820/etd.007733
- Number of pages
- viii, 127 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2024 Lynn Nakad
- Language
- English
- Date submitted
- 05/15/2024
- Description illustrations
- illustrations
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references.
- Public Abstract (ETD)
Chronic pain, or long-term pain, reduces quality of life and health outcomes, and increases medical costs. Current guidelines recommend using non-drug treatments as the preferred care for chronic pain. Virtual reality (VR) can provide pain relief in short-term pain, such as during painful procedures by distracting patients. Some studies have also shown that VR can help manage chronic pain as well.
This research studied the chronic pain experience in adults and the use of VR to help manage chronic musculoskeletal (muscle, joint, and bone) as well as cancer pain. Three papers are presented, including one review and two studies. The first paper described the prevalence and impact of chronic pain with multiple long-term conditions in older adults. It described the chronic pain experience for older adults and the impact of having both chronic pain and multiple chronic diseases. The second paper studied the attitudes of older adults towards VR distraction therapy on chronic musculoskeletal pain. The results showed that while older adults found VR to be an acceptable way to manage their pain, they were unsure how useful VR would be for their pain that was worse while moving. The last paper then focused on episodes of pain that were higher than usual in chronic cancer pain. This study tested the VR distraction for breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP), or cancer pain that breaks through constant background pain, in hospitalized patients. VR was found to be an acceptable and easy to use treatment and initial results showed a reduction in BTcP intensity with the VR treatment compared to usual care.
- Academic Unit
- Nursing
- Record Identifier
- 9984697941402771
Metrics
19 Record Views