Effectiveness of Virtual Reality-enhanced Interventions on Preoperative Anxiety in Adults Undergoing Elective Surgery (VIPA)

Sin Lun CHAN

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Preoperative Anxiety

Treatments: Other: Virtual Reality

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07379450

CIRB-2025-224-5

Details and patient eligibility

About

Brief Summary: Preoperative anxiety is a common phenomenon in surgical patients, with a pooled global prevalence of 48%. Surgical patients with preoperative anxiety may negatively impact their psychological health and surgical outcomes. Recent studies have revealed the promising effects of virtual reality-enhanced interventions to improve preoperative anxiety symptoms among adults undergoing elective surgery.

There is a lack of interventional studies to compare and evaluate the co-designed preoperative virtual reality-enhanced interventions in adult surgical patients.

This study aims to examine the effects of co-designed virtual reality educational video and virtual reality distraction video on preoperative anxiety symptoms, vital signs, Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and postoperative anxiety compared to usual care. This study will contribute by evaluating evidence-based, user-centered VIPA that may be effective for improving preoperative anxiety among adult surgical patients.

Enrollment: 270 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age aged ≥18 years old
• Surgical patients attending Nurse Pre-anaesthetic Assessment Clinic (NPAC)
• American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) physical status ASA I or ASA II
• Able to communicate in Chinese

Exclusion criteria

• Patients who have a cognitive, communication or physical impairment precluding their ability to complete the study
• Patients who are prone to epilepsy or other neurological conditions

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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270 participants in 3 patient groups

Virtual Reality Group 1 (Education approach)

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in Virtual Reality Group 1 (Education approach) will receive a co-designed virtual reality educational 6-minute video via VR headset. The virtual reality educational video includes three main scenes, consisting of preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative content located at operating theatre reception, operating theatre, and post-anaesthetic care unit respectively.

Treatment:

Other: Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality Group 2 (Distraction approach)

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in Virtual Reality Group 2 (Distraction approach) will receive a virtual reality distraction 6-minute video via VR headset. The virtual reality distraction video includes immersive natural scenes with concurrent music, without educational component.

Treatment:

Other: Virtual Reality

Control Group

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in control group will receive usual care only.