# Improving representation of non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic study participants in a trial of virtual reality for chronic lower back pain

> **NIH NIH UH3** · CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER · 2021 · $398,083

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Although digital health technologies are now widely available for both therapeutic and monitoring
applications, there are racial and ethnic disparities in uptake and effectiveness of digital health
interventions. Of relevance to our parent HEAL study examining a digital health intervention (virtual
reality) for pain management, recent data indicate that non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic patients
are less likely to have access to digital health information and more likely to report severe pain than
non-Hispanic whites. In addition to disparities in access and adoption of digital health interventions,
there are known disparities in the incidence and reporting of pain by racial and ethnic minorities.
For example, study of 2000 patients found that non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic patients were
more likely to report severe pain than non-Hispanic whites. The proposed study for this Diversity,
Inclusion and Engagement Supplement to our NIH HEAL study evaluating the role of therapeutic
VR for chronic lower back pain (cLBP) will provide a framework to advance diversity and inclusion
efforts for future digital health trials at our medical center and beyond. Further, it will enhance the
parent study by seeking to increase the proportion of participants with historically less access to
and familiarity with digital technologies while enhancing overall participant racial and ethnic
diversity. Using the NIH Stage Model for Behavioral Intervention Development supported by
advances in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven cohort building tools, we propose to meaningfully
improve enrollment rates of non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic participants in our parent NIH HEAL
study by achieving two aims: (1) tailor recruitment materials for non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic
patients with cLBP in partnership with representative patient advisory boards; and (2) oversample
non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic participants in parent study using an AI-driven cohort building
tool housed within the electronic health record.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10400468
- **Project number:** 3UH3AR076573-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Brennan Spiegel
- **Activity code:** UH3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $398,083
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-09-25 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10400468

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10400468, Improving representation of non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic study participants in a trial of virtual reality for chronic lower back pain (3UH3AR076573-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10400468. Licensed CC0.

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