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Virtual Reality Technology Design and Its Applications in Preventing and/or Managing Paediatric Chronic Pain: A
Romane Michaux1, Aurélie Wagener1, Nancy Durieux1
1Department of Psychology, Research Unit for a Life-Course Perspective on Health & Education (RUCHE), University of Liege, Liège, Belgium.
European Journal of Pain (London, England)
|May 4, 2026
Summary
Virtual reality (VR) offers immersive pain management for children. This review explored VR design strategies for paediatric chronic pain (CP), proposing an adapted framework to guide effective intervention development.
Area of Science:
- Pain Management
- Virtual Reality Interventions
- Paediatric Chronic Pain
Background:
- Virtual Reality (VR) is a novel non-pharmacological tool for pain management.
- Key design elements for effective VR interventions in paediatric chronic pain (CP) are not well-defined.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore VR design strategies for managing and/or preventing paediatric CP.
- To identify and categorize virtual environments (VEs) used in paediatric CP interventions.
Main Methods:
- A scoping review following JBI methodology and PRISMA-ScR guidelines.
- Comprehensive search across five major databases and Google Scholar.
- Systematic screening and analysis of eligible studies.
Main Results:
- Twenty studies were included, revealing diverse objectives from distraction to skill development.
- VR interventions aimed at relaxation, movement promotion, and mirror therapy.
- Four categories of VEs were identified: relaxing, gamified movement-based, simulation of everyday settings, and avatar-based interactive environments, some with biofeedback.
Conclusions:
- An adapted holistic framework for paediatric VR-based pain interventions was developed.
- The framework integrates intervention objectives, moderators, and barriers to guide VR intervention selection and development for paediatric CP.
- A structured classification of VR designs is crucial for interpreting, replicating, and comparing studies in this rapidly evolving field.
