Effect of Virtual Reality on Pain, Anxiety, and Vital Signs in Endoscopy.

Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of relaxation exercise with VR (Virtual Reality) glasses on pain severity, anxiety level, and vital signs in patients undergoing endoscopy.

Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study including a control group with a pretest/post-test applied. This study was conducted with a total of 100 patients, including 50 patients in the intervention and 50 patients in the control group. The data were collected by using Personal Information Form, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Visual Anxiety Scale, Vital Signs Form and Virtual Reality Glass Application Satisfaction Form.

Results: In the inter group evaluation, the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate of the patients in the experimental group after endoscopy were found to be lower than the control group (p < .05). When the effect size value (Cohen d) of this finding was examined, it was found that the application of virtual reality glasses had a large effect on systolic and diastolic blood pressure and a moderate effect on respiration and heart rate. It was found that the mean VAS score of the patients in the control group after the endoscopy procedure was significantly higher than their mean values before the procedure (p = .001). There was no statistically significant difference in the mean VAS scores, anxiety scores and O2 saturation values of the patients in the experimental and control groups after the endoscopy. The mean virtual reality glasses satisfaction value of the patients was found to be 6.98.

Conclusion: Relaxation exercise performed with virtual reality glasses has positive effects on mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure values, heart rate and respiratory rate in patients undergoing endoscopy. In line with these results, it is recommended that the use of virtual reality glasses during endoscopy should be widespread by nurses.