Effect of Virtual Reality Application on Anxiety and Fear in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Abdominal Surgery: a Randomized Controlled Study

Research Design This study aims to determine the effect of virtual reality glasses on the anxiety and fear experienced by patients undergoing abdominal surgery. The randomized, controlled and interventional study blinded the participants using a single-blind method.

Participants The study was conducted in the general surgery clinic of Balcalı Hospital Health Application and Research Center and the waiting room (preoperative area) of the operating room affiliated to this clinic. The research universe consisted of patients who were examined in the general surgery clinic and planned to undergo abdominal surgery under general anesthesia using the laparoscopic method. For this purpose, the researchers conducted a preliminary interview with the patients admitted to the clinic the night before the surgery. Among the patients who were interviewed, patients who were able to communicate and accepted to participate in the study, aged over 18 were included. Patients who used glasses, had an ASA score above 3, had vertigo and motion sickness-motion sickness, and had a known psychiatric or behavioral diagnosis were excluded from the study.

The study was based on the study by Gökçe and Arslan (2023), and when type 1 error was taken as 0.05, power was taken as 80%, and effect size was taken as 0.86, the sample size was calculated as 46 in total, 23 in both groups, in order to find a significant difference between the groups. The included patients were divided into intervention and control groups with simple randomization method. The study was completed by analyzing the data of 24 patients in the experimental group and 23 patients in the control group.

Data Collection During the data collection phase, the "Patient Introduction Form" created in line with the literature was used to define the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants. For other parameters; "State-Trait Anxiety Inventory", "Surgical Fear Scale" were used.

Patient Introduction Form: The section containing the patient's demographic data includes questions regarding age, gender, body mass index, education, marital status, presence of chronic disease, surgical experience, smoking, preoperative fasting period and the type of surgery to be performed.