Evaluating the Effects of a Virtual Environment (Starbright World) With Hospitalized Children

• Published in: Research on social work practice Vol. 9; no. 3; pp. 365 - 382
• Main Authors: Holden, Gary, Bearison, David J., Rode, Diane C., Rosenberg, Gary, Fishman, Merri
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications 01.05.1999; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Anxiety; Children; Children & youth; Evaluation; Hospitalization; Hospitalized; Hospitals; Illness; New York City, New York; Pain; Patients; Social work; Treatment Methods; Virtual environments; Virtual Reality; United States > US
• ISSN: 1049-7315; 1552-7581
• DOI: 10.1177/104973159900900310

The objective was to pilot test the impact of STARBRIGHT World (SBW)—a virtual environment for seriously ill, hospitalized children. The impact of SBW was assessed with a series of nine replicated single system designs. The outcomes were children’s pain intensity, pain aversiveness, and anxiety. The results were aggregated using meta-analysis. At the individual child level, 6 of 27 contrasts between the two conditions reached significance. Overall, there was a trend for the later participants to report greater impact in the SBW condition and this appeared to parallel the increase in the SBW system’s functionality. When the results were combined meta-analytically, the combined p value was less than .05 for pain intensity and pain aversiveness and slightly greater than .05 for anxiety. This study provided modest support for the effectiveness of SBW and demonstrates the use of meta-analysis with single system designs.