Kids helped by VR through X-rays less fearful, study finds
Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used in today’s society for various purposes and has most recently been seen to reduce children’s anxiety and stress before medical imaging procedures, according to a South Korean study at Seoul National University (SNU).
Researchers from SNU’s Medical VR Group conducted the trial at Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, with 100 children, ages 4 to 8, in a simple experiment – the children listened to verbal instructions or experienced a three-minute VR program.
The 360-degree, three-dimensional VR experience was created through a head-mounted display, where famous animation characters from a Korean series explained the process of chest radiography and soothed the children during the procedure. The VR process also took them into a radiography room and explained how to pose in front of a chest radiography machine.
The children’s stress and anxiety during the X-ray process was then measured using the Observational Scale of Behavioral Distress. It includes distressing behaviour such as crying, clinging, fear, restraint and screaming. About 78% of children in the VR group scored low on distress, as compared with 52% in the verbal group, while only eight kids in the VR group requested parental presence, as compared to 18 in the verbal group. The procedure time was also slightly shorter in the VR group and required fewer repeats.Parental satisfaction for those in the VR group was higher as well.
Hunter Hoffman, Director of the University of Washington’s (UW) Virtual Reality Research Center in US, said that pre-experiencing the procedure in VR can help reduce the patients’ anticipatory fears about the unknown – ”I’ll bet that the kids will recount about the memory of the VR instead of the memory of a scary hospital experience.”
Studies have used VR during dental procedures, blood draws, and burn wound cleaning to help children’s pain and anxiety, but there is a need to personalise the experience with the most suitable content, type of procedure and developmental level of the child.
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