• Remziye Semerci, Melahat Akgün Kostak, Tuba Eren, and Gülcan Avci.
• 37521Trakya University, Edirne, Turkey.
• J Pediatr Oncol Nurs. 2021 Mar 1; 38 (2): 142-151.

PurposeNeedle procedures are one of the most distressing practices for pediatric oncology patients. Virtual reality (VR) is a distraction method which offers an extremely realistic and interactive virtual environment and helps reduce needle-related pain and distress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of VR method on pain during venous port access in pediatric oncology patients aged 7 to 18 years.MethodChildren who had cancer and were between the ages of 7 and 18 years and undergoing a port-a-cath access were randomly assigned through blocked randomization to either the VR intervention group or control group. A commercially available VR headset was fitted to children in the intervention group. Immediately after the port access, pain scores were obtained from children's self-reports and parents' proxy reports, using the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale.ResultsDescriptive characteristics of the children (n = 71) showed a homogeneous distribution between groups. During the procedure, children in the control group (n = 36; 5.03 ± 3.35) experienced more pain than the children in VR group (n = 35; 2.34 ± 2.76; p < .001). Proxy reports of the parents in the experimental group (1.77 ± 2.46) were found to be lower than those in the control group (4.67 ± 2.56; p < .001).Conclusions/Implications For PracticeVR method is effective for reducing pain during venous port access in pediatric oncology patients. VR should be used as a distraction method during venous port access.

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