Research & Projects → Virtual Reality for Pain, Anxiety, and Physiological Responses in Burn Patients
Research Proposal
Unpublished · Not Implemented
Project Type: Research Proposal · Status: Unpublished Research Proposal · Not Implemented · Year: 2020 · Prepared by: Mahya Moshtagh
An academic research proposal exploring virtual reality as a supportive approach to pain and anxiety in burn care.
Overview
This project was an academic research proposal exploring whether virtual reality (VR) could be studied as an adjunct to standard burn care to help address pain, pain-related anxiety and selected physiological responses in burn patients. The proposal was developed as a piece of clinical research planning rather than as a conducted study: it sets out a research question and a proposed approach, and a rationale for why VR-based distraction might be worth investigating in this patient group, without collecting or analyzing any patient data. The proposal reflects an early stage of Mahya Moshtagh’s research training, focused on translating a clinical observation from burn care into a structured, testable research question rather than on producing findings.
Clinical Rationale
Patients recovering from burn injuries often undergo repeated painful procedures, including wound care and dressing changes, which can be distressing both physically and psychologically. Pain in this context has both a physical component and a psychological one, including anticipatory anxiety associated with repeated procedures. This rationale motivated interest in non-pharmacological, adjunctive approaches, such as VR-based distraction, that might be studied alongside standard care to support patients through these procedures. Framing pain management as involving both physiological and psychological dimensions supported the choice to consider a technology-based, non-invasive distraction method as a subject worth proposing for further study, alongside rather than in place of standard clinical care.
Proposed Approach
The proposal described a proposed controlled interventional study design, with a VR intervention group compared against a control group, with standard care maintained for all participants. Candidate outcome measures included the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain, the Burn Specific Pain Anxiety Scale, and selected physiological indicators, with SPSS-based quantitative analysis planning for comparing outcomes between groups.
This description reflects the planning stage only. Further protocol detail, including randomization procedures, was not finalized.
My Contribution
Mahya Moshtagh’s contribution centred on proposal development: formulating the clinical research question, reviewing relevant literature, planning the proposed intervention and control conditions, selecting candidate outcome measures, and planning the intended quantitative analysis approach. No clinical trial was conducted as part of this work. This work drew on coursework and literature review skills developed during her nursing education, applied here to a clinical research planning exercise.
Status & Limitations
No patient-level data were collected. No clinical trial was completed. No results were produced. The proposal was not submitted for funding, peer-reviewed or published, and the intervention described was never implemented. The proposal remains a planning document only, and no claims are made here about the effectiveness of virtual reality in burn care beyond what the proposal itself set out to investigate.
Skills & Relevance
- Clinical research planning
- Proposal writing
- Digital health
- Pain management
- Patient-centred care
- Quantitative research planning
