Abstract

Background: Virtual reality (VR) was an emerging intervention to offer children a form of distraction to combat feelings of despair and positively impact anxiety and improve coping.

Problem: Hospitalization and surgical procedures often cause anxiety, fear and stress for the pediatric patient and negatively affect clinical outcomes and recovery time.

Methods: The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to measure the pre intervention and post intervention anxiety scores of 39 participants, ages 8-18 years of age, over an eight-week period. Descriptive statistics and a paired t test were used to report results. The Knowledge to Action translational science model was used to frame the project.

Intervention: The project exposed participants to a VR distraction intervention to reduce anxiety and promote the well-being for patients in the practice setting and impact improved quality, in a safe, patient centered, cost effective manner.

Results: Virtual reality distraction had a statistically significant impact on 39 pediatric perioperative patients over the 8-week implementation period. The pre-intervention mean score was 4.13 (n = 39, SD = 2.546) and the post-intervention score was 1.79 (n = 39, SD = 1.542). The mean difference was found to be 2.33 (SD = 1.951) and was statistically significant at t (38) = 7.468, p < .001.

Conclusions: VR distraction is a statistically significant nurse led intervention for the reduction of anxiety in the pediatric perioperative patient. VR offers non-pharmacological intervention options for the nurse to facilitate coping with the pediatric perioperative patient.

Author Details

Dr. G. Connors, DNP, MSN- Ed, RN, CNE

Certified Academic Nurse Educator | Healthcare Operations & Education Leader

Dr. Connors is a seasoned Registered Nurse with over 30 years of diverse experience spanning clinical care, operational leadership, education, and healthcare consulting. His dynamic career has encompassed roles as a front-line caregiver, educator, manager, director, executive, and consultant, consistently driving innovation and excellence across a wide range of healthcare settings — from small community hospitals to academic medical centers and specialty institutions. A Doctor of Nursing Practice with a concentration in Educational Leadership, Dr. Connors has made significant contributions to nursing education, particularly in the areas of theory, clinical instruction, and simulation-based learning. He is recognized for his expertise in gamification as a powerful active learning strategy. He has conducted scholarly work with virtual reality and anxiety reduction strategies in hospitalized children and has been honored with the prestigious DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurse Educators. His areas of practice concentration include Education, Pediatrics, Administration, and Informatics. Dr. Connors is a certified academic nurse educator (CNE) and a nationally published author and accomplished speaker, widely respected for his thought leadership in academic and operational domains. He brings a strong command of healthcare business analytics, workforce productivity assessment, and process improvement, with a proven track record of optimizing systems and leading successful design and construction projects in healthcare environments. Known for his strategic mindset and passion for lifelong learning, Dr. Connors continues to shape the future of nursing through his work with academic institutions, healthcare organizations, and technology companies.

Sigma Membership

Phi

Type

DNP Capstone Project

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Quality Improvement

Research Approach

Qualitative Research

Keywords:

Virtual Reality, Children, Pediatric Perioperative Patients, Hospitalization, Anxiety, Anxiety Reduction

Advisor

Michelle McGonigal

Degree

DNP

Degree Grantor

Chamberlain University

Degree Year

2025

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Self-submission

Date of Issue

2025-11-12

Full Text of Presentation

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