Recruiting

Guided Meditation in VR

Sponsor:

Christopher Almario

Code:

NCT07122843

Conditions

Pain and Anxiety

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

VR Guided Meditation

Study Details

Brief summary:

This study aims to assess changes in pain and anxiety as reported by the Pain Numeric Rating Scale (PNRS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory 6 (STAI-6), pre and post a guided meditation in Virtual reality. Objectives of the study are also to determine the feasibility, and patient acceptance of utilizing a LLM-generated guided meditation in VR. Our goal is to learn about any limitations of our approach and provide a pathway for future improvements in creating a VR AI therapist that is optimally aligned with the needs of users.

Conditions

Pain and Anxiety

Study ID

NCT07122843

Start date

Nov 6, 2025

Status verified date

Sep, 2025

Completion date

Jan 20, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Oct 20, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 18+ years of age
  • Individuals who are admitted to CSMC and who have completed the Inpatient Pain Service Center intake form.
  • Participants must speak one of the program's supported languages (currently English and Spanish)
  • Minimum pain score of 4 out 10 on baseline pain survey

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Unwilling and/or unable to participate
  • Does not understand English or Spanish
  • Self-reported history of severe motion sickness
  • The presence of a facial/head deformity that will prohibit the wearing of a VR HMD
  • Those that require corrective lenses -2.5 or stronger that cannot be corrected with contact lenses
  • Legally deaf
  • Having had a seizure in the past year
  • Unable to understand the instructions or to consent to participation in the study
  • Those who are pregnant

Study Design

Enrollment

38 participants

Anticipated

Intervention Model

Single group

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: VR Guided Meditation

Patients will wear a VR headset for approximately 15 minutes. The headset fully covers the eyes, immersing users in a calming, 3D virtual environment. Once the headset is on, patients will engage in a guided meditation experience, set in a nature-themed scene of their choice; options include a lake, beach, mountains, desert, forest, space, and more. An AI-powered guide will lead the meditation, offering real-time, personalized support based on the patient's age and the pain-related information provided during the hospital intake process. The AI is designed to promote relaxation by helping patients focus, breathe deeply, and feel more at ease. The intervention will be standardized for all participants, with each receiving the same duration of exposure in the VR headset and access to an identical selection of nature scenes. The patients will fill our pre and post intervention pain and anxiety surveys. The pre and post surveys will take between 5-10 minutes each to complete.

Interventions

VR Guided Meditation

Patients will wear a VR headset for approximately 15 minutes. The headset fully covers the eyes, immersing users in a calming, 3D virtual environment. Once the headset is on, patients will engage in a guided meditation experience, set in a nature-themed scene of their choice; options include a lake, beach, mountains, desert, forest, space, and more. An AI-powered guide will lead the meditation, offering real-time, personalized support based on the patient's age and the pain-related information provided during the hospital intake process. The AI is designed to promote relaxation by helping patients focus, breathe deeply, and feel more at ease. The intervention will be standardized for all participants, with each receiving the same duration of exposure in the VR headset and access to an identical selection of nature scenes. The patients will fill our pre and post intervention pain and anxiety surveys. The pre and post surveys will take between 5-10 minutes each to complete.

Primary outcome measure

  • Pain Numeric Rating Scale Pre and Post VR Guided Meditation [ Time Frame: Pre VR Use (Baseline) and Post VR Use (after a 15 minutes experience in VR) ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Ella F Tetrault, BS

4243151311ella.tetrault@cshs.org

Locations

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Recruiting

Los Angeles, California, United States, 90048

Contacts

Ella F Tetrault, BS

4243151311ella.tetrault@cshs.org

Principal Investigator:

Christopher V Almario, MD, MSHPM

More Information

Sponsor

Christopher Almario

Last update posted

Nov 26, 2025

Last verified

Sep, 2025

Keywords

  • Virtual Reality
  • Meditation
  • Guided Meditation

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-09. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Christopher Almario on 2025-11-26.