ViolenceNCT06239285
A Virtual Reality Brief Violence Intervention: Preventing Gun Violence Among Violently Injured Adults
A study testing Brief Violence Intervention VR (BVI-VR) and Treatment as Usual (TAU) in people with Violence, run by Virginia Commonwealth University at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The overall aim of the proposed project is to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of Brief Violence Intervention-Virtual Reality (BVI-VR) for reducing firearm-related violence, re-injury, and mortality among victims of violence. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Violence
- What is being tested?
- Brief Violence Intervention VR (BVI-VR) and Treatment as Usual (TAU)
- Type of treatment
- Medical device
- Could I receive a placebo?
- Yes, some participants may receive a placebo
- How many people
- 220 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 26 Feb 2024to Oct 2027
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- violently injured patients from VCU's Level 1 Trauma Center
- 18 years or older
- English-speaking
Who cannot join
- Under 18 years old
- Not a victim of Violent crime
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
United States1 site, 1 recruiting
- Recruiting
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia, 232398
Nicholas Thomson, 804-297-5740, nicholas.thomson@vcuhealth.org
About this study
The overall aim of the proposed project is to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of Brief Violence Intervention-Virtual Reality (BVI-VR) for reducing firearm-related violence, re-injury, and mortality among victims of violence. Outcome measures of firearm-related violence will come from multiple sources, including criminal background checks, hospital data, state-level data, semi-structured clinical assessments, and self-report assessments. In addition, the study aims to understand the impact of BVI-VR on psychosocial mediators resulting in a reduction of firearm-related violence. This will include self-report surveys, neurocognitive assessments, and clinical assessments. The economic efficiency of BVI-VR as a firearm-related violence intervention will also evaluated. To achieve these aims, a randomized control trial (RCT) in a large sample of violently injured adults (18+ years) from VCU Health will be conducted.
Read the detailed description
Brief Violence Intervention-Virtual Reality (BVI-VR) is being developed as a hospital-based brief gun violence intervention program founded on the principles of positive psychology, motivational goal setting (via gameplay), psychoeducation, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy. This proposal will develop five steps to create a 30-minute brief firearm-related violence intervention. The five steps address a range of psychosocial risk factors and enhance protective factors for violence, as well as psychoeducational programming specifically addressing the risk of firearm violence. All steps of the BVI-VR emphasize being in control of making positive choices, and how to locate and leverage opportunities within their communities to improve their well-being. BVI-VR empowers patients to be the driver of their well-being.
- Conditions
- Violence
- Being tested
- Brief Violence Intervention VR (BVI-VR), Treatment as Usual (TAU)
- Keywords
- Firearm Violence Victim
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Brief Violence Intervention VR (BVI-VR)Device
BVI-VR is being developed as a hospital-based brief gun violence intervention program founded on the principles of positive psychology, motivational goal setting (via gameplay), psychoeducation, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy. All steps of the BVI-VR emphasize being in control of making positive choices, and how to locate and leverage opportunities within their communities to improve their well-being. BVI-VR empowers patients to be the driver of their well-being
Treatment as Usual (TAU)Other
group will receive a community resource brochure (the same one that is provided at the end of BVI-VR). This brochure provides contact detail for services in the local area. These include organizations that provide mental health counseling, mentorship services, career development programs, organized community activities and sports, educational support, financial support, substance abuse programs, and resource assistance (e.g., food, housing, etc.).
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Treatment as Usual (TAU) Group | Placebo comparator | The treatment-as-usual (TAU) group will receive a community resource brochure (the same one that is provided at the end of BVI-VR). This brochure provides contact detail for services in the local area. Receives: Other: Treatment as Usual (TAU) |
| Intervention Group | Experimental | Patients randomized into the BVI-VR group will answer questions about the session content and the rationale for the content. Their responses will provide an estimate of engagement providing a better understanding of treatment fidelity. Receives: Device: Brief Violence Intervention VR (BVI-VR) |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Firearm-related violence /The gun violence questionnaire
The gun violence questionnaire is a 9-item self-report that assesses firearm-related violence. Items were adapted from the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire physical aggression scale; for example, "Given enough provocation, I may fire my gun at another person". The measure has adequate internal consistency (α = .75) and good convergent and discriminant validity with other violence related measures
Measured: Baseline self-report, 3- and 6-months post-randomization
Gun Behaviors and Beliefs Scale
Gun Behaviors and Beliefs Scale will be used to measure gun behaviors and beliefs that may be impacted by the intervention: Safety and Control, Social Perceptions, Emotional Risk, Common Beliefs. The subscales have demonstrated adequate to good internal consistency (α = .79-.96).
Measured: 3 and 6 month post baseline
Firearm criminal conviction and arrests/ Criminal Background Checks
Criminal background checks will be conducted on participants to assess violent criminal arrests and gun-related crimes and police contacts. Criminal activity will be coded for the occurrence of nonviolent crime, violent crime, and firearm-related crime for three-time points: prior to baseline assessment, from baseline to 3-month follow-up, and from 3-month follow-up to the 6-month follow-up.
Measured: prior to baseline assessment, from baseline to 3-month follow-up, and from 3-month follow-up to the 6-month follow-up.
Non-convicted firearm-related violent crime/ Violent Crime Assessment
Violent Crime Assessment is a semi-structured clinical assessment of convicted and non-convicted violent crime. The measure captures six categories of violent crimes that participants have and have not been arrested for; simple assault, aggravated assault, homicide, robbery, rape, and sexual assault. Information is collected on weapon use for each of the crimes (e.g., used a firearm during rape; fired a gun at a party and may have hit someone). The VCA provides a valuable index for firearm-related violence that is not captured in self-report measures or criminal background checks.
Measured: 3 and 6 month post baseline
Secondary outcomes (3)
Firearm-related re-injury/ Self-report
Violent injury data are collected from self-report surveys which capture the number of times a participant has been violently injured and what the patient was injured by (GSW).
Measured: 3 and 6 month post baseline
Firearm-related re-injury/ Hospital data: Virginia Department of Health
Violent injury data are collected from VCU's hospital database.
Measured: 3 and 6 month post baseline
Firearm-related mortality/ Hospital data; Virginia Department of Health; National Death Index
Mortality rates will be collected from hospital records and the National Death Index database.
Measured: 3 and 6 month post baseline
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted2 Feb 2024
- Study start26 Feb 2024
- Primary completion29 Sep 2027 (estimated)
- Study completionOct 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for ViolenceStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- A randomized control trial (RCT) in a large sample of violently injured adults (18+ years) from VCU Health.
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 220 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Virginia Commonwealth University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Nicholas Thomson, Principal investigator, Virginia Commonwealth University
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06239285
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- HM20027823_Thomson
- Other IDs
- R01CE003625
- Status last verified
- Oct 2026
- First submitted
- 26 Jan 2024
- Last updated
- 13 Oct 2026
- Results posted
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Undecided
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 13 Oct 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- A Virtual Reality Brief Violence Intervention: Preventing Gun Violence Among Violently Injured Adults
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06239285
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- HM20027823_Thomson
- Conditions
- Violence
- Keywords
- Firearm Violence Victim
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 220 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Virginia Commonwealth UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Study start
- 26 Feb 2024 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 29 Sep 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Oct 2027 (estimated)
- First posted
- 2 Feb 2024 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The overall aim of the proposed project is to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of Brief Violence Intervention-Virtual Reality (BVI-VR) for reducing firearm-related violence, re-injury, and mortality among victims of violence. Outcome measures of firearm-related violence will come from multiple sources, including criminal background checks, hospital data, state-level data, semi-structured clinical assessments, and self-report assessments. In addition, the study aims to understand the impact of BVI-VR on psychosocial mediators resulting in a reduction of firearm-related violence. This will include self-report surveys, neurocognitive assessments, and clinical assessments. The economic efficiency of BVI-VR as a firearm-related violence intervention will also evaluated. To achieve these aims, a randomized control trial (RCT) in a large sample of violently injured adults (18+ years) from VCU Health will be conducted.
Detailed description
Brief Violence Intervention-Virtual Reality (BVI-VR) is being developed as a hospital-based brief gun violence intervention program founded on the principles of positive psychology, motivational goal setting (via gameplay), psychoeducation, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy. This proposal will develop five steps to create a 30-minute brief firearm-related violence intervention. The five steps address a range of psychosocial risk factors and enhance protective factors for violence, as well as psychoeducational programming specifically addressing the risk of firearm violence. All steps of the BVI-VR emphasize being in control of making positive choices, and how to locate and leverage opportunities within their communities to improve their well-being. BVI-VR empowers patients to be the driver of their well-being.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- A randomized control trial (RCT) in a large sample of violently injured adults (18+ years) from VCU Health.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Treatment as Usual (TAU) Group | Placebo comparator | Other: Treatment as Usual (TAU)The treatment-as-usual (TAU) group will receive a community resource brochure (the same one that is provided at the end of BVI-VR). This brochure provides contact detail for services in the local area. |
| Intervention Group | Experimental | Device: Brief Violence Intervention VR (BVI-VR)Patients randomized into the BVI-VR group will answer questions about the session content and the rationale for the content. Their responses will provide an estimate of engagement providing a better understanding of treatment fidelity. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (3 listed)
- violently injured patients from VCU's Level 1 Trauma Center
- 18 years or older
- English-speaking
Key exclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Under 18 years old
- Not a victim of Violent crime
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Brief Violence Intervention VR (BVI-VR)BVI-VR is being developed as a hospital-based brief gun violence intervention program founded on the principles of positive psychology, motivational goal setting (via gameplay), psychoeducation, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy. All steps of the BVI-VR emphasize being in control of making positive choices, and how to locate and leverage opportunities within their communities to improve their well-being. BVI-VR empowers patients to be the driver of their well-being | Device | Intervention Group |
| Treatment as Usual (TAU)group will receive a community resource brochure (the same one that is provided at the end of BVI-VR). This brochure provides contact detail for services in the local area. These include organizations that provide mental health counseling, mentorship services, career development programs, organized community activities and sports, educational support, financial support, substance abuse programs, and resource assistance (e.g., food, housing, etc.). | Other | Treatment as Usual (TAU) Group |
Primary outcome
Firearm-related violence /The gun violence questionnaire
Time frame: Baseline self-report, 3- and 6-months post-randomization
The gun violence questionnaire is a 9-item self-report that assesses firearm-related violence. Items were adapted from the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire physical aggression scale; for example, "Given enough provocation, I may fire my gun at another person". The measure has adequate internal consistency (α = .75) and good convergent and discriminant validity with other violence related measures
Gun Behaviors and Beliefs Scale
Time frame: 3 and 6 month post baseline
Gun Behaviors and Beliefs Scale will be used to measure gun behaviors and beliefs that may be impacted by the intervention: Safety and Control, Social Perceptions, Emotional Risk, Common Beliefs. The subscales have demonstrated adequate to good internal consistency (α = .79-.96).
Firearm criminal conviction and arrests/ Criminal Background Checks
Time frame: prior to baseline assessment, from baseline to 3-month follow-up, and from 3-month follow-up to the 6-month follow-up.
Criminal background checks will be conducted on participants to assess violent criminal arrests and gun-related crimes and police contacts. Criminal activity will be coded for the occurrence of nonviolent crime, violent crime, and firearm-related crime for three-time points: prior to baseline assessment, from baseline to 3-month follow-up, and from 3-month follow-up to the 6-month follow-up.
Non-convicted firearm-related violent crime/ Violent Crime Assessment
Time frame: 3 and 6 month post baseline
Violent Crime Assessment is a semi-structured clinical assessment of convicted and non-convicted violent crime. The measure captures six categories of violent crimes that participants have and have not been arrested for; simple assault, aggravated assault, homicide, robbery, rape, and sexual assault. Information is collected on weapon use for each of the crimes (e.g., used a firearm during rape; fired a gun at a party and may have hit someone). The VCA provides a valuable index for firearm-related violence that is not captured in self-report measures or criminal background checks.
3 secondary outcomes
Firearm-related re-injury/ Self-report
Time frame: 3 and 6 month post baseline
Firearm-related re-injury/ Hospital data: Virginia Department of Health
Time frame: 3 and 6 month post baseline
Firearm-related mortality/ Hospital data; Virginia Department of Health; National Death Index
Time frame: 3 and 6 month post baseline
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 13 Oct 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Undecided
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Nicholas Thomson principal investigator
Virginia Commonwealth University
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Brief Violence Intervention VR (BVI-VR) and Treatment as Usual (TAU) in people with Violence, run by Virginia Commonwealth University at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 2 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 13 Oct 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. Some participants in this study may receive a placebo. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Nicholas Thomson ((804) 297-5740, Nicholas.thomson@vcuhealth.org), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Firearm-related violence /The gun violence questionnaire (time frame: Baseline self-report, 3- and 6-months post-randomization). The study lists 4 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 13 Oct 2026; AzTrials last refreshed its copy on 26 Oct 2026.