Clinical trial NCT04579354: Virtual Reality (VR) Tour to Reduce Preoperative Anxiety Before Anaesthesia
Official title: Virtual Reality (VR) Tour to Reduce Preoperative Anxiety Before Anaesthesia in an Operating Setting: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Anaesthesia
Anxiety
Postoperative Pain
Keywords: virtual reality (VR)
anxiety preoperative
opearting theater
Lead sponsor: RWTH Aachen University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2020-10-08
Enrollment: 84
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 100
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Anxiety and apprehension are common among patients prior to surgery. This anxiety can lead to additional discomfort, increased pain sensation and increased stress symptoms. Virtual exposure has proven to be successful in exposure therapy for the treatment of the narrowest patients. Patients are not confronted with the real stimuli or situations that trigger the branches, but with virtual representations of them. Virtual reality (VR) makes it possible to create scenarios that would not be possible in reality because of the organisational, time or financial expenditure involved.The effectiveness of virtual stimulus exposure is well documented, especially in the case of object or situation-related fears in the context of specific phobias. It is therefore obvious that virtual stimulus exposure could also be suitable for minimising operation-associated fears.The research project described is designed to investigate the effect of virtual stimulus exposure on perioperative anxiety. For this purpose, a virtual tour of the operating setting has been created, which enables patients to explore the surroundings in detail by means of VR glasses.

Detailed description: Anxiety and apprehension are common among patients prior to surgery. This anxiety can lead to additional discomfort, increased pain sensation and increased stress symptoms. Virtual exposure has proven to be successful in exposure therapy for the treatment of the narrowest patients. Patients are not confronted with the real stimuli or situations that trigger the branches, but with virtual representations of them. Virtual reality (VR) makes it possible to create scenarios that would not be possible in reality because of the organisational, time or financial expenditure involved.The effectiveness of virtual stimulus exposure is well documented, especially in the case of object or situation-related fears in the context of specific phobias. It is therefore obvious that virtual stimulus exposure could also be suitable for minimising operation-associated fears.The research project described is designed to investigate the effect of virtual stimulus exposure on perioperative anxiety. For this purpose, a virtual tour of the operating setting has been created, which enables patients to explore the surroundings in detail by means of VR glasses.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* all patient undergoing anaesthesia without the following exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

* \< 18 years
* cancer surgery
* pregnancy
* postoperative setting ICU
* neurosurgery
* Thorax surgery

Primary outcomes:
measure: STOA State T1
timeFrame: before anaesthesia
Secondary outcomes:
measure: STOA State T2
timeFrame: within 48 hours after anaesthesia
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Aachen
country: Germany
facility: RWTH Aachen University
state: NRW
Study officials:
References:
citation: Vogt L, Klasen M, Rossaint R, Goeretz U, Ebus P, Sopka S. Virtual Reality Tour to Reduce Perioperative Anxiety in an Operating Setting Before Anesthesia: Randomized Clinical Trial. J Med Internet Res. 2021 Sep 1;23(9):e28018. doi: 10.2196/28018.