Effect of Virtual Reality on Child Pain
Condition: Pain
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study is a randomized controlled experimental study conducted to determine effect of
      using virtual reality headset during venipuncture on pain level, heart rate and oxygen
      saturation values among 7-12 year-old children. The data were collected from 102 children
      coming to vaccination room of an university hospital's pediatric outpatient clinic. Before
      the venipuncture, state anxiety scores of children in both groups were evaluated. The
      children in experimental group wore virtual reality headset during the venipuncture. The
      children in control group were subjected to standard venipuncture procedure. Before, during
      and after the venipuncture, pulse and oxygen saturation values were measured.
    

Detailed description: 
      The research was designed as a randomized controlled experimental study. The population of
      the study consisted of all 7-12 year-old children who came to a vaccination room of an
      university hospital's pediatric outpatient clinic .It is stated in the literature that the
      sample size should be determined as minimum 41 in both experimental and control groups in the
      experimental studies.

      In the study, randomization Urn method was carried out. Urn method consists of two parameters
      (α and β). These parameters are matched with two different colored balls (red and white). One
      of the balls was randomly selected and if this ball was white, the individual was assigned to
      α group; if it was red, then participant was assigned to β group. This process was repeated
      for each assignment. In the study, white ball was determined as control group; whereas, red
      ball was determined as experimental group. In the case of a child meeting the sampling
      criteria, these balls that the researcher had previously prepared were placed in a black bag
      and any nurse working in the pediatrics outpatient clinic at that time was asked to draw a
      ball from the bag. The children were assigned to experimental or control group based on color
      of the selected ball so that they were randomly distributed to two groups. A total of 106
      children including 54 children in the experimental group and 52 children in the control group
      were included in the sample group by taking possible case losses into account. Since 2
      children in the experimental group did not want to wear the virtual reality headset during
      the procedure, they were excluded from the sample. 2 children in the control group were
      excluded from the sample because venipuncture procedure did not take place at once. Thus, the
      sample group consisted of 102 children in total including 52 children in the experimental
      group and 50 children in the control group. The study followed the CONSORT guideline for
      reporting randomized controlled trials. The data collection questionnaries included a Child
      and Parent Information Form, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, and Faces Pain
      Scale-Revised (FPS-R).
    

Intervention name(s): Virtual Reality
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): 5 minutes before the procedure, they were recorded on 'Child and Parent Information Form', State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children and FPS-R. Their heart rate and oxygen saturation values were read and recorded. Children wore the virtual reality headset and game was started one minute before the venipuncture. As soon as the injector inserted, the researcher turned on a stopwatch and read and recorded heart rate and oxygen saturation values. When the injector was removed, the researcher stopped the stopwatch and recorded the duration of the procedure.When the injector was removed, the stopwatch was stopped and heart rate and oxygen saturation were recorded. The children took off the virtual reality headset and were asked to evaluate their pain level through FPS-R and their responses were recorded.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: child; nursing; pain management; venipuncture; Virtual reality