Abstract / Summary
Background: Children often develop fear and negative perceptions of hospitals following painful procedures. We need effective interventions to shift these perceptions from negative to neutral or even positive. This study investigated whether watching a 3D virtual reality (VR) movie of a pediatric clinic can effectively reduce hospital-related fear and anxiety in school-aged children. Methods: This quasi-experimental study involved 39 first- and second-grade students ( n = 23 in the experimental group and n = 16 in the control group), where the experimental group watched a 2-minute 3D virtual pediatric clinic movie using VR headsets. Data were collected with a sociodemographic form, Children’s Fear Scale, and Children’s State Anxiety (CAS) Scale. Both groups completed the scales at baseline. One day after baseline, the experimental group received the VR intervention, and both groups completed the post-test. Results: The participants had a mean age of 7.23 ± 0.71 years. After the VR intervention, the percentage of children in the experimental group reporting extreme medical fear decreased to 4.3%, while in the control group it remained at 12.8%. This reduction was statistically significant ( P = .014). Additionally, the experimental group showed a significant decrease in anxiety levels, as indicated by a decrease in the CAS score from pre-test to post-test ( P = .001). These findings indicate that the VR intervention was effective in reducing both medical fear and anxiety among school-aged children. Conclusions: The study found that watching a 3D VR movie of a pediatric clinic through a VR headset significantly reduced both fear (as measured by extreme medical fear rates) and anxiety (as measured by CAS scores) related to hospitals in school-aged children. These results highlight VR as an effective, child-friendly tool for shaping positive perceptions of pediatric healthcare and managing medical fears in this population.