Virtual reality for pain related health literacy in people with persistent pain: protocol for a scoping review.

Background: Patient education remains a key element in the provision of healthcare for people with chronic or persistent pain and is used to help patients develop health-related skills leading to the improvement of health. When a patient understands the education they receive, they manage their health better. Patients with low health literacy find the management of long-term conditions more difficult therefore the requirement for better health literacy in patients with persistent pain is warranted. Virtual Reality may act as an effective tool for the development of patient education and health literacy and has been shown to be more effective than other methods of delivery, such as text reading. Objectives: To present a protocol for a scoping review which aims to establish and present a comprehensive overview of existing research on the use of virtual reality as a tool to promote pain related health literacy in patients with persistent pain. Data sources: We will conduct a systematic search of several electronic databases from inception to the present within CINAHL, PubMed, Embase, PsychInfo. Study selection or eligibility criteria: Studies which use virtual reality to provide education to patients who report persistent pain will be included. Study appraisal and synthesis methods: Data will be extracted and mapped against the Health Literacy Pathway Model to identify characteristics of health literacy within educational interventions. This will then be presented alongside descriptive statistics and narrative thematic analysis to illustrate patterns, similarities, gaps and opportunities associated with the research topic.