Abstract Background Preoperative anxiety and postoperative discomfort are critical issues in pediatric surgical management, especially in children undergoing tonsillectomy/ adenoidectomy. Virtual Reality (VR) is an immersive, non-pharmacological approach that may alleviate anxiety and improve procedural tolerance. Aim The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of a 360-degree educational virtual reality movie in alleviating preoperative anxiety and postoperative discomfort in children aged 6 to 12 years undergoing tonsillectomy/ adenoidectomy. Methods A single-blind, randomized controlled trial was performed with 92 pediatric patients allocated to either an experimental group (n=46), who viewed a 360° VR educational video, or a control group (n=46) that got conventional preoperative care. The Children’s Fear Scale and Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale were employed to evaluate preoperative anxiety and postoperative discomfort, respectively. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank test and the Mann–Whitney U test were employed for data analysis. Results Participants in the VR group demonstrated markedly reduced fear scores following the intervention (Median (Q3-Q1)=2 (3–1)) in contrast to pre-intervention levels (Median (Q3-Q1)=3 (4–2), p<0.001), as well as when compared to the control group (Median (Q3-Q1)=3 (4–2), p<0.001). Postoperative pain levels were considerably reduced in the VR group (Median (Q3-Q1)=6 (7–5)) compared to the control group (median=7 (8–6), p<0.001). Conclusion A 360° educational movie in virtual reality was associated with significantly lower preoperative fear and postoperative pain compared with standard care in children undergoing tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy. The findings suggest that VR may serve as a valuable adjunct in pediatric preoperative preparation; nevertheless, further large-scale and multi-center studies are necessary to corroborate these results. Trial registration Retrospectively registered. approved by TCTR Committee on 13 May 2024. The TCTR identification number is TCTR20240513003

Title

Aidah Alkaissi

Publisher

Springer (Biomed Central Ltd.)

Publisher Country

Egypt

Indexing

Scopus

Impact Factor

1.0

Publication Type

Online only

Volume

73

Year

2025

Pages

11