• Elham Zolfaghari, Brad Ridout, Sharon Medlow, Andrew Campbell, Andrew Coggins, Margaret Murphy, Shefali Jani, Deepali Thosar, Brenda K Wiederhold, Mark Wiederhold, and Katharine Steinbeck.
• Specialty of Child and Adolescent Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
• Emerg Med Australas. 2022 Oct 1; 34 (5): 687693687-693.

ObjectiveThe present study aimed to explore the feasibility and potential benefits of deploying virtual reality (VR) for adolescents in the ED.MethodsThis multi-centre study was undertaken in paediatric and adult EDs in two university teaching hospitals. Twenty-six participants who had voluntarily attended the ED received the VR intervention. Pre- and post-measures assessing changes in state anxiety, stress and affect, and physical biomarkers were obtained.ResultsThe use of VR intervention was associated with significant reductions in distress (Short State Stress Questionnaire - Distress Subscale; t = 4.55, P < 0.001) and negative affect (the International Positive and Negative Affect Scale - Short Form version; t = 4.99, P < 0.001). Most participants chose 'Netflix' as their content of choice. The technology was well received by the participants with subjective reports indicating that receiving VR intervention was 'insanely cool', 'takes you away from what's actually happening' and some participants felt 'privileged to get this experience in a hospital'.ConclusionsVR technology can effectively be used in EDs to assist adolescents and young adults better manage their distress and take steps towards activating more self-control mechanisms that will in turn allow for more meaningful engagements to be established with health clinicians. This technology has broad implications for reducing distress in adolescents in a variety of clinical contexts.© 2022 The Authors. Emergency Medicine Australasia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

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