The effect of Virtual Reality in reducing preoperative anxiety in patients prior to arthroscopic knee surgery: A randomised controlled trial

© 2017 IEEE. Preoperative anxiety positively correlates with postoperative levels of pain, analgesic use and length of hospital stay. This preliminary study aimed to determine if the principle of distraction, using a relaxing Virtual Reality (VR) immersion, would reduce preoperative anxiety in patie...

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Main Authors: Robertson, A., Khan, R., Fick, Daniel, Robertson, William, Gunaratne, D., Yapa, S., Bowden, V., Hoffman, H., Rajan, R.
Format: Conference Paper
Published: IEEE 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/68995
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author Robertson, A.
Khan, R.
Fick, Daniel
Robertson, William
Gunaratne, D.
Yapa, S.
Bowden, V.
Hoffman, H.
Rajan, R.
author_facet Robertson, A.
Khan, R.
Fick, Daniel
Robertson, William
Gunaratne, D.
Yapa, S.
Bowden, V.
Hoffman, H.
Rajan, R.
author_sort Robertson, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2017 IEEE. Preoperative anxiety positively correlates with postoperative levels of pain, analgesic use and length of hospital stay. This preliminary study aimed to determine if the principle of distraction, using a relaxing Virtual Reality (VR) immersion, would reduce preoperative anxiety in patients undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery. Sixty patients were randomised into three groups (Standard care group, Virtual Reality group and iPad group). Anxiety scores (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), heart rate and blood pressure were measured pre and post intervention. The Standard care group received no intervention. The iPad group watched a video slideshow of beaches around the world and the VR group experienced a virtual beach immersion. Guided relaxation audio content (via headphones) was replicated across VR and iPad groups. Planned comparisons showed a significant difference between the average GSR measures at Time 1 and Time 2 between the Standard group and VR group. GSR measures for the Standard care group increased by 54 per cent from time 1 to time 2 and the VR and iPad groups reduced slightly, demonstrating an ameliorating effect on anxiety levels. A marginal difference between the Standard care group and VR group in anxiety change scores was reported. Whilst the VR condition reduced anxiety more than Standard care in both GSR and Anxiety change score measures, it provided no significant advantage over iPad condition. In conclusion, distraction using VR and iPad temporarily reduces self-reported anxiety levels and GSR measures compared to standard care in patients prior to knee arthroscopy. Further study is required to determine how long-lasting these benefits are in a clinical setting. The continuing advancements in VR technology, including immersion quality, present an opportunity to investigate the application of VR as a 'digital pre-med'.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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last_indexed 2025-11-14T10:39:39Z
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-689952018-06-29T12:36:11Z The effect of Virtual Reality in reducing preoperative anxiety in patients prior to arthroscopic knee surgery: A randomised controlled trial Robertson, A. Khan, R. Fick, Daniel Robertson, William Gunaratne, D. Yapa, S. Bowden, V. Hoffman, H. Rajan, R. © 2017 IEEE. Preoperative anxiety positively correlates with postoperative levels of pain, analgesic use and length of hospital stay. This preliminary study aimed to determine if the principle of distraction, using a relaxing Virtual Reality (VR) immersion, would reduce preoperative anxiety in patients undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery. Sixty patients were randomised into three groups (Standard care group, Virtual Reality group and iPad group). Anxiety scores (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), heart rate and blood pressure were measured pre and post intervention. The Standard care group received no intervention. The iPad group watched a video slideshow of beaches around the world and the VR group experienced a virtual beach immersion. Guided relaxation audio content (via headphones) was replicated across VR and iPad groups. Planned comparisons showed a significant difference between the average GSR measures at Time 1 and Time 2 between the Standard group and VR group. GSR measures for the Standard care group increased by 54 per cent from time 1 to time 2 and the VR and iPad groups reduced slightly, demonstrating an ameliorating effect on anxiety levels. A marginal difference between the Standard care group and VR group in anxiety change scores was reported. Whilst the VR condition reduced anxiety more than Standard care in both GSR and Anxiety change score measures, it provided no significant advantage over iPad condition. In conclusion, distraction using VR and iPad temporarily reduces self-reported anxiety levels and GSR measures compared to standard care in patients prior to knee arthroscopy. Further study is required to determine how long-lasting these benefits are in a clinical setting. The continuing advancements in VR technology, including immersion quality, present an opportunity to investigate the application of VR as a 'digital pre-med'. 2017 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/68995 10.1109/SeGAH.2017.7939282 IEEE restricted
spellingShingle Robertson, A.
Khan, R.
Fick, Daniel
Robertson, William
Gunaratne, D.
Yapa, S.
Bowden, V.
Hoffman, H.
Rajan, R.
The effect of Virtual Reality in reducing preoperative anxiety in patients prior to arthroscopic knee surgery: A randomised controlled trial
title The effect of Virtual Reality in reducing preoperative anxiety in patients prior to arthroscopic knee surgery: A randomised controlled trial
title_full The effect of Virtual Reality in reducing preoperative anxiety in patients prior to arthroscopic knee surgery: A randomised controlled trial
title_fullStr The effect of Virtual Reality in reducing preoperative anxiety in patients prior to arthroscopic knee surgery: A randomised controlled trial
title_full_unstemmed The effect of Virtual Reality in reducing preoperative anxiety in patients prior to arthroscopic knee surgery: A randomised controlled trial
title_short The effect of Virtual Reality in reducing preoperative anxiety in patients prior to arthroscopic knee surgery: A randomised controlled trial
title_sort effect of virtual reality in reducing preoperative anxiety in patients prior to arthroscopic knee surgery: a randomised controlled trial
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/68995