The WOW Project (WOW): Wonders Of The World Through Virtual Reality for Hospitalized Children

NCT ID: NCT06911996

Last Updated: 2025-10-20

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 100 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-07-10
• Study Completion Date: 2026-08-31

Brief Summary

Hospitalized pediatric patients are unable to leave the hospital to engage in traditional learning environments. Patients often feel depressed, disconnected from learning, and socially withdrawn. The Stanford Chariot Program proposes a partnership with the Palo Alto Unified Hospital School at Stanford Children's Health to reignite patients' emotional well-being through learning. The WOW Project aims to use virtual reality (VR) to travel with hospitalized children to the Wonders of the World (WOW). Combining this immersive learning modality with complementary hands-on activities at the bedside, the investigators will transport them from their hospital room into a nurturing virtual environment to stimulate their emotional, mental, and social growth while they are physically healing. The investigators will evaluate their overall joy and awe of learning by using standardized emotional scales.

Conditions

Virtual Reality

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Virtual Reality Group

Participants will all receive the VR intervention and will be instructed to wear an Oculus Quest 3 headset (Meta, Inc., Menlo Park, CA) and participate in virtual field trips from Engage (David Whelan). Brink Traveler (Akin Bilgic) and Wander (John Entwistle) that are specifically designed to reignite the joy and awe of learning.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Virtual Reality

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

After obtaining written consent, participants will be asked to complete a brief demographic survey and pre-intervention surveys (content knowledge, and wellbeing surveys). They will then be equipped with a VR headset, Quest 3 (Meta, Inc., Menlo Park, CA) displaying the educational field trip. After the VR field trip, participants will participate in a complementary hands-on science experiment. At the conclusion of the experiment, patients will be asked to complete the post intervention surveys (i.e awe, content knowledge, and wellbeing surveys).

Additionally, for the first 20 participants, 15 participants will be randomly selected and asked to participate in a 5 open-ended question qualitative interview regarding engagement of the lesson. Audio will be recorded via zoom.

Interventions

Virtual Reality

After obtaining written consent, participants will be asked to complete a brief demographic survey and pre-intervention surveys (content knowledge, and wellbeing surveys). They will then be equipped with a VR headset, Quest 3 (Meta, Inc., Menlo Park, CA) displaying the educational field trip. After the VR field trip, participants will participate in a complementary hands-on science experiment. At the conclusion of the experiment, patients will be asked to complete the post intervention surveys (i.e awe, content knowledge, and wellbeing surveys).

Additionally, for the first 20 participants, 15 participants will be randomly selected and asked to participate in a 5 open-ended question qualitative interview regarding engagement of the lesson. Audio will be recorded via zoom.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Between the age of 5 and 17.
• English speaking.
• Anticipated in-patient stay for more than 1 day.

Exclusion Criteria

• Legal guardian not present to obtain consent
• Child with a significant neurological condition, or major developmental disability
• Child with active infection of the face or hand
• A history of severe motion sickness
• A history of seizures caused by flashing light
• Major surgery within the last 12 hours

• Minimum Eligible Age: 5 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 17 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Stanford University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Thomas Caruso

Clinical Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford

Palo Alto, California, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Thomas Caruso, MD, PhD

Role: CONTACT

tjcaruso@stanford.edu

6504970927

Astrid Suen, MMedSc

Role: CONTACT

smy822@stanford.edu

6504970927

Facility Contacts

Thomas J Caruso, MD, MEd

Role: primary

tjcaruso@stanford.edu

650-723-5728

Other Identifiers

80079

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id