Exploring the Application of Virtual Reality in Enhancing Chest Percussion Techniques, Reducing Caregiver Stress, and Improving Teaching Effectiveness for Caregivers of Children With Pneumonia

Launched by NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL · Jul 1, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This study is testing whether a virtual reality (VR) teaching program helps caregivers learn to do chest percussion for children with pneumonia more accurately and efficiently, and whether it might also reduce caregiver stress. It compares the VR training to the usual nurse-led chest percussion education, using a randomized crossover design. Participants will be evaluated at two main times: the day of the child’s hospital admission or transfer (T1) and about four days after the teaching session (T2). The researchers will look at how well caregivers perform the technique, what they know about it, caregiver stress levels, and the child’s breathing sounds; the VR group will also be checked for how effective the teaching was.

Who can join: adults who are the primary caregiver of a child up to 17 years old who has pneumonia and needs chest percussion as part of treatment. Eligible caregivers must be at least 18 years old and able to understand the training. Exclusions include significant communication barriers (for example, language or sensory limitations that would prevent using the VR simulator) or medical reasons the therapy isn’t advised (such as rib fractures, osteoporosis, tumors or skin graft sites, or a pulmonary embolism). The study is enrolling about 60 families in Yuanlin, Taiwan, at National Taiwan University Hospital and is not yet reporting results.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • - Primary caregivers of pediatric patients who have been diagnosed by a physician as requiring chest percussion as an adjunct therapy and are at least 18 years old
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • 1. Severe communication barriers (inability to communicate in Mandarin or Taiwanese, blindness, or deafness) that prevent understanding of the simulator.
• • 2. Primary caregivers of pediatric patients with contraindications to chest percussion therapy, such as rib fractures, osteoporosis, tumors or skin graft sites, or pulmonary embolism.