Considering the chronic nature of cancer, patients often undergo prolonged chemotherapy regimens, which are commonly accompanied by heightened anxiety and alterations in hemodynamic indices, such as elevated blood pressure and heart rate. These issues can impair treatment tolerance, quality of life, and clinical outcomes. Virtual reality (VR) technology, a non-pharmacological and non-invasive method, has gained attention as an effective way to reduce anxiety by diverting attention and supporting hemodynamic stability in clinical environments.
Objective: To evaluate the impact of virtual reality technology on anxiety levels and hemodynamic indices in cancer patients during chemotherapy.
Methods: This randomized clinical trial adopted a pretest-posttest design and enrolled 54 patients. Participants were randomly assigned to an intervention group receiving VR therapy or a control group receiving routine care. The VR intervention used a Meta Quest 3S headset with anxiety-reducing nature scenarios for 30 minutes during chemotherapy infusion. Anxiety was measured with the Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory. Hemodynamic indices, including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, pulse rate, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, and body temperature, were recorded before and 30 minutes after chemotherapy initiation. Data analysis involved parametric and non-parametric tests, repeated-measures analysis of variance, and linear mixed-effects models in SPSS version 27.