Virtual Reality for Chronic Pain Management Among Historically Marginalized Populations: Systematic Review of Usability Studies.

BACKGROUND: Virtual reality (VR) has potential to improve chronic pain management outcomes. However, the majority of studies assessing VR are conducted in predominantly White populations in well-resourced settings, thus leaving a gap in knowledge of VR use among diverse populations who experience a significant chronic pain burden. OBJECTIVE: This review aims to examine the extent to which usability of VR for chronic pain management has been studied within historically marginalized patient groups. METHODS: We conducted a systematic search to identify studies with usability outcomes located in high-income countries that included a historically marginalized population, defined by a mean age greater than or equal to 65 years, lower educational attainment (greater than or equal to 60% having attained high school education or less), and being a racial or ethnic minority (less than or equal to 50% non-Hispanic White people for studies based in the United States). RESULTS: Our analysis included 5 papers, which we used to conduct a narrative analysis. Three studies examined VR usability as a primary outcome. All studies assessed VR usability using different measures, of which 4 found VR to be usable by their respective study population. Only 1 study found a significant improvement in pain levels post-VR intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The use of VR shows promise for chronic pain management, but few studies include populations that are older, have limited educational attainment, or have racial or ethnic diversity. Additional studies with these populations are needed to further develop VR systems that work best for diverse patients with chronic pain.

Patient and caregiver perspectives on causes and prevention of ambulatory adverse events: multilingual qualitative study.

CONTEXT: Ambulatory adverse events (AEs) affect up to 25% of the global population and cause over 7 million preventable hospital admissions around the world. Though patients and caregivers are key actors in promoting and monitoring their own ambulatory safety, healthcare teams do not traditionally partner with patients in safety efforts. We sought to identify what patients and caregivers contribute when engaged in ambulatory AE review, focusing on under-resourced care settings. METHODS: We recruited adult patients, caregivers and patient advisors who spoke English, Spanish and/or Cantonese, from primary care clinics affiliated with a public health network in the USA. All had experience taking or managing a high-risk medication (blood thinners, insulin or opioid). We presented two exemplar ambulatory AEs: one involving a warfarin drug-drug interaction, and one involving delayed diagnosis of colon cancer. We conducted semistructured focus groups and interviews to elicit participants' perceptions of causal factors and potential preventative measures for similar AEs. The study team conducted a mixed inductive-deductive qualitative analysis to derive major themes. FINDINGS: The sample included 6 English-speaking patients (2 in the focus group, 4 individual interviews), 6 Spanish-speaking patients (individual interviews), 4 Cantonese-speaking patients (2 in the focus group, 2 interviews), and 6 English-speaking patient advisors (focus group). Themes included: (1) Patients and teams have specific safety responsibilities; (2) Proactive communication drives safe ambulatory care; (3) Barriers related to limited resources contribute to ambulatory AEs. Patients and caregivers offered ideas for operational changes that could drive new safety projects. CONCLUSIONS: An ethnically and linguistically diverse group of primary care patients and caregivers defined their agency in ensuring ambulatory safety and offered pragmatic ideas to prevent AEs they did not directly experience. Patients and caregivers in a safety net health system can feasibly participate in AE review to ensure that safety initiatives include their valuable perspectives.

Usability and acceptability of virtual reality for chronic pain management among diverse patients in a safety-net setting: a qualitative analysis.

Objective: The aim of this study was to understand the usability and acceptability of virtual reality (VR) among a racially and ethnically diverse group of patients who experience chronic pain. Materials and Methods: Using the Technology Acceptance Model theory, we conducted semistructured interviews and direct observation of VR use with English-speaking patients who experience chronic pain treated in a public healthcare system (n = 15), using a commercially available VR technology platform. Interviews included questions about current pain management strategies, technology use, experiences and opinions with VR, and motivators for future use. Results: Before the study, none of the 15 participants had heard about or used VR for pain management. Common motivators for VR use included a previous history of substance use and having exhausted many other options to manage their pain and curiosity. Most participants had a positive experience with VR and 47% found that the VR modules distracted them from their pain. When attempting the navigation-based usability tasks, most participants (73%-92%) were able to complete them independently. Discussion: VR is a usable tool for diverse patients with chronic pain. Our findings suggest that the usability of VR is not a barrier and perhaps a focus on improving the accessibility of VR in safety-net settings is needed to reduce disparities in health technology use. Conclusions: The usability and acceptability of VR are rarely studied in diverse patient populations. We found that participants had a positive experience using VR, showed interest in future use, and would recommend VR to family and friends.