The DOI matches its Crossref record; 57 of the 59 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The effectiveness of virtual reality distraction for pain reduction: A systematic review
Abstract
Virtual reality technology enables people to become immersed in a computer-simulated, three-dimensional environment. This article provides a comprehensive review of controlled research on the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) distraction for reducing pain. To be included in the review, studies were required to use a between-subjects or mixed model design in which VR distraction was compared with a control condition or an alternative intervention in relieving pain. An exhaustive search identified 11 studies satisfying these criteria. VR distraction was shown to be effective for reducing experimental pain, as well as the discomfort associated with burn injury care. Studies of needle-related pain provided less consistent findings. Use of more sophisticated virtual reality technology capable of fully immersing the individual in a virtual environment was associated with greater relief. Overall, controlled research suggests that VR distraction may be a useful tool for clinicians who work with a variety of pain problems.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“It is known that VW in this perspective is an established tool for acute affect modulation and acute pain relief [22, 23].”
From Virtual walking therapy in neuropathic spinal cord injury pain: a feasibility study (2024) · cites this paper as [23]
In the citing paper
“In VR relaxation [21] and VR pain management [36], presence is likely a mediator of intervention effects due to the inherent correlation with distraction from the outside and inside world”
From Experiences of gamified and automated virtual reality exposure therapy for spider phobia: qualitative study (2020) · cites this paper as [36]
Citations
Cites
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173 · Cited by 91,532
Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.).
Lachenbruch, P. A., & Cohen, J. (1989) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.2307/2290095 · Cited by 37,421
Wasserman, S. S., Hedges, L. V., & Olkin, I. (1988) · Journal of Educational Statistics · doi:10.2307/1164953 · Cited by 10,377
The empirical status of cognitive-behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses
Butler, A. C., Chapman, J. E., Forman, E. M., & Beck, A. T. (2006) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2005.07.003 · Cited by 3,215
Statistical Methods for Meta-Analysis
(1985) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/c2009-0-03396-0 · Cited by 2,570
Psychometric properties of the credibility/expectancy questionnaire
Devilly, G. J., & Borkovec, T. D. (2000) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0005-7916(00)00012-4 · Cited by 2,295 · cited 1×
“To our knowledge, there has been no empirical research on possible biological (Gold, Belmont, & Thomas, 2007) and psychological mechanisms such as expectancy (Kirsch, 1985) and credibility (Devilly & Borkovec, 2000) that might explain how VR distraction works to relieve pain.”
BackgroundMorley, S., Eccleston, C., & Williams, A. (1999) · Pain · doi:10.1016/s0304-3959(98)00255-3 · Cited by 1,597
Lost productive time and cost due to common pain conditions in the US workforce
Stewart, W. F. (2003) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.290.18.2443 · Cited by 1,570
Response expectancy as a determinant of experience and behavior.
Kirsch, I. (1985) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.40.11.1189 · Cited by 1,014
Handbook of pediatric psychology
(1988) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.26-2400 · Cited by 799
Flagged first, then by citations
2 of the 59 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- McGrath, 1985, CHEOPS: A behavioral scale for rating postoperative pain in children, Advances in Pain Research and Therapy, 9, 395
- Riva, 2008, Editorial, Annual Review of CyberTherapy and Telemedicine, 6, 10
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Virtual reality in neuroscience research and therapy
Bohil, C. J., Alicea, B., & Biocca, F. A. (2011) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3122 · Cited by 1,108
“A review of studies of VR pain analgesia for burn victims finds that more highly immersive VR equipment (for example, a high-end head-mounted display (HMD)) corresponds with greater levels of relie”
BackgroundArtificial Intelligence in Medicine: Today and Tomorrow
Briganti, G., & Le Moine, O. (2020) · Frontiers in Medicine · doi:10.3389/fmed.2020.00027 · Cited by 743
“Augmented medicine is not only enabled by AI-based technologies but also several other digital tools, such as surgical navigation systems for computer-assisted surgery (7), virtuality-reality continuum tools for surgery, pain management and psychiatric disorders (8–10).”
Neuroscience of virtual reality: from virtual exposure to embodied medicine
Riva, G., Wiederhold, B. K., & Mantovani, F. (2019) · Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2017.29099.gri · Cited by 608
Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Virtual Reality in Pediatrics: Effects on Pain and Anxiety
Eijlers, R., Utens, E. M. W. J., Staals, L. M., de Nijs, P. F. A., Berghmans, J. M., Wijnen, R. M. H., Hillegers, M. H. J., Dierckx, B., & Legerstee, J. S. (2019) · Anesthesia & Analgesia · doi:10.1213/ane.0000000000004165 · Cited by 628
Hoffman, H. G., Chambers, G. T., Meyer, W. J., Arceneaux, L. L., Russell, W. J., Seibel, E. J., Richards, T. L., Sharar, S. R., & Patterson, D. R. (2011) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12160-010-9248-7 · Cited by 599
“A growing number of researchers using a variety of distraction software have also found evidence that VR reduces clinical and laboratory pain [24, 39, 51, 55–59] or itching [60].”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Malloy, K. M., & Milling, L. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Hartford (US)
- Corresponding author
- Milling, Leonard S.
- ORCID
- Milling, Leonard S.
- Venue
- Clinical Psychology Review
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-12
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1011-1018
- ISSN
- 0272-7358 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2164662311
- Cited by
- 653
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 44 · 2025: 72 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 67 · 2022: 59 · 2021: 75 · 2020: 66 · 2019: 53 · 2018: 51 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 2.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Psychology Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Pediatric Pain Management Techniques
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine › Pain Management and Treatment
- Keywords
- virtual reality, distraction therapy, analgesia, experimental pain, immersion, pain management
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Burns, Humans, Injections, Pain, Research, User-Computer Interface, Treatment Outcome, Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic, Pain Management
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
